Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

Corninthian (A) 2 - Harlequins (A) 2 [a.e.t]

Harlequins won 5-4 on penalty strokes

Irish Senior Cup - Semi Final

Saturday 1st March 2003

Scorers: E. Gash, R. Gash

Quins qualified for the ISC Final after a very tense & exciting semi final. Quins, yet again, won on penalty strokes after extra time. Quins began the game very well & pressed forward from the off. Edward Gash opened the scoring after 14 minutes when he reverse sticked the ball to the goal following a short corner. Quins were well in control at this stage & should have gone further ahead. Corinthian were competing very hard all over the pitch & scored with their first corner after 25 minutes. Quins lost a bit of shape at this stage as Corinthian came more into the game. The first half ended with the sides tied at 1-1.

Into the second half & the tension of the occasion appeared to get to both teams. Chances were few & far between, with both defences performing very well.

Eight minutes into extra time Corinthian took the lead when a powerful reverse stick strike from close range gave Wesley no chance. Five minutes later & Wes pulled off a tremendous diving save to keep us in the game. In the second half of extra time Quins really upped the pace & equalised within 3 minutes. Paul Lombard played a quick free to John Hobbs & when his shot was saved by the keeper, Richard pounced to touch home from close range. In the last five minutes Quins had 4 corners but failed to take advantage.

In the penalty shoot out the Quins scorers were Sean Nicholson, Colm Brady & Eaks. Wes pulled off a brilliant save on their 5th stroke to keep us in the competition. In 'sudden death' Eaks scored again & Sean was awarded a penalty goal as the Corinthian keeper had moved forward off the line before the ball was played. The pressure was now on Corinthian & their next taker hit the post to put Quins into the ISC Final on April 5th.

W. Bateman, J. Hobbs, P. Chambers, S. Nicholson, C. Brady, P. Lombard, J. Aherne, J. Black, D. Eakins, D. Lombard, E. Gash, R. Gash, M. Pedersen, P. McLaughlin, B. Hayes Curtin, C. Daunt.