Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

Annadale (A) 3 - Harlequins (A) 3 [A.E.T]

Quins won 5-4 on pens

Irish Senior Cup

Saturday 25th January 2003

Scorers: R. Gash 2, D. Eakins

In a fantastic advertisement for ISC hockey, Quins came out on top following extra time & penalty strokes. It's games like this that really bring top class hockey, excitement & tension to the fore.

The game began in a whirlwind fashion & Quins were awarded a short corner in the first attack. Edward was fouled in the circle & Eaks strike from the corner was too powerful for the keeper to deal with. 45 seconds gone & 1 nil to the good. Annadale immediately responded & attacked in wave after wave. They put tremendous pressure on all over the field. As a result of this pressure they scored from a short corner & from play to lead by 2-1 at half time. It was a credit to Quins that very few corners were conceded during this period of pressure.

A positive half time talk & a change in tactics brought about immediate results. With the second half a minute old Richard Gash got on the end of a left wing cross from David Eakins to deflect the ball past the keeper from close range. Two minutes later & Quins were 3-2 to the good when Richard touched home Eaks short corner strike. Following this it was a case of Annadale pressing forward & Quins counter attacking. Annadale equalised from a corner with less than 15 minutes remaining on the clock. In the 30 minutes extra time both teams pressed for a decisive goal but without success.

So, it was down to penalty strokes. Both sides scored with their first 4 attempts. Our scorers were Paul Lombard, Sean Nicholson, Colm Brady & John Hobbs. Wes pulled off a tremendous save to keep out Annandales 5th attempt. This left Eaks with the opportunity to win the match & he converted the stroke successfully. We would like to thank our merry band of supporters for the entertainment & support they gave us at the weekend.

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

Match Report courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph

Annadale Gash-ed"

ANNADALE'S hopes of landing the Irish Senior Cup were dashed by the Gash brothers at Lough Moss today.

The Ulster Premier League leaders were caught cold at the start of each half by Cork Harlequins duo Eddie and Richard Gash and literally paid the penalty after the tie had finished level 3-3 after extra time.

It was so near but so far for the Dale against the All Ireland club champions.

A goal down after 45 seconds, they came back to lead 2-1 at the interval, only to trail 3-2 within four minutes of the restart.

But despite levelling matters, they lost out on penalty strokes when Peter Bland was the only one of the ten penalty takers to miss.

It was Eddie Gash who won the first penalty corner of the game in the first minute which David Eakins converted, but Annadale hit back with Ian Hamilton equalising with a penalty corner and Paul Jackson finishing off Chris Jackson's free.

But at the start of the second half Richard Gash scored from brothr Eddie's cross and then put the Cork side ahead when deflecting in a penalty corner.

In a thrilling game Ian Hamilton beat Irish international goalkeepr Wes Batemen all hands up again with a penalty corner but no-one could break the deadlock in extra time and it was down to the dreaded penalty stroke shoot-out.

Annadale's successful penalty takers were Chris Jackson, Ian Hamilton, JP McGranaghan and Iain Lewers.

Dale coaches Graeme Francey and Andy Smyth were disappointed at the outcome but welcome such tough games each week.

"Wouldn't it be great to play teams of this calibre every week," said Smyth.

"You can learn a lot from them."