MEN'S HOCKEY: It has become a healthy trend again that most leading young players are giving allegiance to their universities (rather than outside clubs).
Indeed there were indications over the weekend that hockey in Dublin University may go close in a couple of seasons' time to matching their halcyon days, say, of 50 years ago.
On Saturday, the Trinity students lost only in the last minute (3-2) to the assertive Leinster Senior League leaders, Pembroke Wanderers, and yesterday, fielding six members of the first XI, they won the Under-21 Avoca Cup by defeating Corinthians, 4-3, at Serpentine Avenue.
Corinthians' stoic resistance was broken early in extra-time by a "golden goal" whipped to the net by Peter Blakeney. He was completing a drag-flick hat-trick, having put Trinity level at half-time after Corinthians, spurred by Andrew Sutton, had mounted the sharper start with finishing touches by Glenn Holmes and Gareth Davis.
However, when Ian Horsfield established composure in the Trinity defence and his fellow European Under-18 Championship gold medallist Phelie Maguire became irrepressible in midfield, Corinthians were under siege in the second half.
With Mark Harkin to the fore, they survived until the Trinity captain, Philip Balbirnie, scored what seemed to be the winner.
David White forced home an equaliser to prolong the contest but Trinity re-established their dominance for Blakeney to decide the issue.
On the league front, it was only with 25 seconds to spare at Santry on Saturday that Paddy Good earned full points for Pembroke to keep them clear at the top. It is being predicted that Trinity are capable of finishing third behind the Corinthians seniors who overwhelmed UCD, 7-0.
Elsewhere, form continued to be unpredictable, with Monkstown gaining a 3-2 away win against Aer Lingus while YMCA beat Three Rock Rovers 2-1 at Ballinteer, leaving Rovers determined to reverse this result in the Neville Cup final on Friday.
