Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

Galway (A) 0 - Harlequins (A) 11

Munster Senior Cup - Saturday 4th January 2003

Report by Edward Gash

Harlequins Mens 1sts started off the year in the same winning vein as they finsihed last year: knocking 11 without reply past Galway 1sts.

Last Saturday's match was the only 1st round Dawson Travel Munster Senior Cup game to go ahead, all the other ties were abandoned due to frosty pitches. The odds are that if this match was in Cork it would have suffered the same fate. The pitch in Galway was trés hard. Rocky reliably informed us that the outside temperature in the shade was 3.5 degrees. All over the pitch was frozen; but the presence of ice patches along one side was mucho perturbing for some players. The thought of ice-hockey in G-G-Galway was not all that appealing. The 'kick-off' time of 1:30 was put back as the umpires poured buckets of hot water down the right wing and moved the dugouts to allow the sun 'melt' the pitch.

At 2:00 battle commenced, at 2:35 H'Quins were 0-5 up. The Gashes scoring 3 (Edward 2, Richard 1), and Locky weighing in with 2. It was a good fluent performance in which, apart from the first 10 mins, H'Quins dominated. By 3:15 the scoreline read: Galway null point, H'Quins onze point. The Gashes had increased their family total to 9 (Edward 3, Richard 6) to add to McLauglin's family total of 2. This put Quins into the second round against the winners of Belvedere and UCC.

This was a good performance, especially considering the absence of Blacky and Plums, and the loss of Eaky to injury after 5mins. Hopefully his injury won't be too bad. Better news is that Fishy returned to training this week, following a long lay-off due to a leg injury. We'll need everyone fit for Jan 25th as we head up to Annadale for the Irish Senior Cup.

Richard's personal tally of 6 in the game is the highest I can remember. Can anyone remember more being scored by a single individual?

Team:GK Mr. Bateman-O'Brien; RB Mr. Nicholson, CB Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Pederson, LB Mr. Hayes-Curtin; RM Mr. Eakins, CM Mr. Ahern, LM Mr. Brady; RW Mr. McLaughlin, CF Mr. D. Lombard, LW Mr. E. Gash. SUBS Mr. R. Gash, Mr. O'Driscoll. Manager Mr. Rocky

Congratulations to the Ladies 1sts from the Mens 1sts for retaining the Shalom Cup, with victory over Bandon last Sunday.