Glenanne belied their lowly position in the Leinster Senior League hockey table by winning the Stephen Doyle (Top Four) trophy for the first time in finishing strongly against Corinthians in a highly disciplined final at the Iveagh Grounds yesterday.
The issue could have gone either way as the sides were level going into the closing stages. Colin Stewart, straight after the interval, had cancelled out Paul Fitzpatrick's first-half lead for Glenanne - both goals coming from short corner second phases.
Corinthians, with Wesley Roth well overlapping menacingly, exerted the greater pressure as their set-piece tally mounted to 12 but in a breakaway 13 minutes from the end, John Goulding sent Albert O'Donoghue scooting into the circle, where he was bundled off the ball and Stephen Butler whipped the penalty stroke into the net.
Another raid saw Jimmy Shaw find space for Butler to slot home Glenanne's third goal in the last minute, making the margin a trifle flattering. Yet, full credit must go to their defence, particularly the goalkeeper and captain Ian Clarke, one of whose saves, pointblank from Stewart, was amazing.
Glenanne: I Clarke (capt); C Bolger; D Shaw, Rory O'Donoghue, C Murphy; S Butler, A Brown, P Fitzpatrick; G Shaw; J Goulding, M Lambe. Subs: A O'Donoghue, J Shaw, Roly O'Donoghue.
Corinthians: P Darley (capt); T Winter; W Rothwell, C Byrne, I Ovington; P Armitage, C Ross, F Appleby, D McFeely; C Stewart, R Burns. Subs: A Missen, T Connell, P Connell, I Walshe.
Umpires: M Canniffe, P Rainey.
Wright-Carey Cup (final) - Three Rock Rovers II 2 (N Denham, C Carroll) Corinthians II 2 (N Corsen, R Burns). TRR won 4-3 on strokes.