Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

Henchy Cup Final

Harlequins (E) 3 - Fermoy 0

Scorers: Alan O'Driscoll (2), Ashley Esterhuizen

21st April 2002 at 3:00pm

Well, what can you say? Words just don't do justice to the absolutely horrible concoctions of various alcoholic beverages that Alan M, Captain Marvellous, poured into the cup.

'Cup?' I hear you cry, 'What Cup??'

Ah yes. The cup. Well, the Henchy Cup to be precise. And what a piece of silverware it is. It holds a pint bottle of Bulmers, three shots of Baccardi, three shots of vodka, and still has room for a couple of shots of Archers. Enough said. So how did we come by this magnificent trophy?

The short version is that we gave Fermoy a bit of going over. We were just as shocked as they were, I think. Coming into the cup final, Fermoy were top of the Division (all be it Division 3B!) and Quins 5th (that's us!)
were...well...bottom. Not that our recent form has been bad. Six wins from seven matches tells it's own story, and the one game we had lost was against Fermoy on their home turf (well, its gravel actually) which requires a unique way of playing that I for one have not yet mastered...

So on to the match. Playing into driving wind and rain, Quins controlled the game from the start crated a good few chances. Alan O'Driscoll played a blinding game and scored the first goal after ten minutes, and the second on the half hour mark - the second being one of the best goals you'll see at any level this or any other year. Alan had the ball no more than six inches from the back line and about three yards outside the Fermoy right hand post, and proceeded to hit a shot into the top right hand corner. Utterly brilliant. In between the two goals Gavin Payne was a constant menace on the Quins right wing and created several good chances, the best of which as magnificently missed by Jim Burfield, up from left midfield.

So two-nil at half time and with Simon King, Tony Aherne, Brian Martin, and Dennis Gallagher in control at the back, poor Clive in goal was cold, very wet (like the rest of us) and bored. The crowd kept all of our sprits up though, and the constant chattering from the manager-for-a-day, Pat Dawson, was enough to drive even the laziest (or should that be knackered?) of us on to greater things. So it was then that Ashley Esterhuizen, scored number three after twenty minutes of the second half. Cue some show boating from Derek Turnbull and Peter Payne, and Joe O'Mahony was running the Fermoy lads in circles (you had to be there...)

The final whistle saw the end of a great game of hockey, and we all appreciate the friendly sprit in which the game was played, and the even more friendly sprit that went into the cup in the bar afterwards. The drinking produced some savage hangovers on Monday, and let it be said that the huge crowd was just brilliant. Thanks for all your support, and see you next season!