MENS HOCKEY: Although next weekend may still not be the defining stage of the Leinster Championship, it should be significant as the neck-and-neck leaders, Pembroke Wanderers and Glenanne, meet at Serpentine Avenue while Aer Lingus aim to claim the third all-Ireland berth away to fading Monkstown.
That's the situation after Saturday's games in which Pembroke's greater spread of resources yielded a 3-2 win over Aer Lingus at the airport while Glenanne demolished Three Rock Rovers 6-0 at Tallaght.
Pembroke survived an early flurry of Aer Lingus raids, notably when Stephen Doran foiled Adrian Sweeney. A patient build-up led to the opening goal at the other end as John Jermyn potted a short corner and, after leading 1-0 at the break, Gordon Elliott put his side two up.
All the time, though, David Bane was playing irrepressibly for Aer Lingus, fully testing the visitors' defence. Deservedly, Bane levelled matters at 2-2, scoring first from a corner and then smashing his way through to whip home a DJ Carey-like shot.
A loss of concentration, however, in the Aer Lingus defence allowed Pembroke to regain the lead through a Jermyn drag flick and this was the winner, though Bane went close to snatching an equaliser in the closing minutes.
It is reckoned that Glenanne gave their most effective attacking performance of the season at Three Rock's expense. Goals in the first half came from John Goulding and Garry Shaw. Shaw scored again in the second period while Devin Kehoe was twice on target with Joe Brennan completing the tally. A surprising, if not productive, statistic for Rovers was a short-corner count of 9-2 in their favour.
Although Monkstown went ahead through Richie O'Malley at Park Avenue, Railway Union fought doggedly to win 2-1 with goals from Kenny Carroll and Teddy Lynch. Trinity also picked up full points (3-2) against YMCA at Claremont Road where Peter Blakeney gave the students a 2-0 lead and Stephen Findlater got the winner after the home side had rallied to 2-2 through Neil Lyons and David Johnson.
Corinthians, who beat Clontarf 4-0, should be capable of staying in the top half of the table.
