Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

C of I(A) 2 - Harlequins(A) 2
(h.t. 2-2)

Munster Division 1

Saturday 09th April 2005

Scorers: D. Eakins, C. Harte

Quins retained the Munster Senior League with a 2-2 draw against CofI at Garryduff. Both sides began the game looking to make an early breakthrough & there were four goals in the first 16 minutes. CofI opened the scoring after just 3 minutes when Quins lost possession in their own circle & A. Dunne beat Wesley Bateman from close range. Quins responded positively & scored the equaliser within 3 minutes. Richard Gash passed to Paul Lombard on the right side of the CofI circle & he picked out an unmarked David Eakins at the back post with an excellent pass. Eaks remained composed & flicked the ball high to the net. Three minutes later J. Lynch picked up the ball in the Quins circle & with the Quins defense allowing him too much space he turned & cracked a powerful reverse stick shot to the roof of the net. Quins again responded to this challenge & equalised in the 16th minute. A swift attack on the left side was closed down but the ball was dropped back to Jason Black. Jason, displaying admirable vision, spotted the run of the overlapping Conor Harte into the CofI circle & hit a perfect pin point pass. Conor controlled the ball & cracked an unstoppable shot past M. Ruddle. The rest of the chances in the first half were mainly from short corners with the defenses coming out on top.

Quins came out of the blocks very quickly in the second half & Paul Lombard was unlucky to see his reverse stick shot go wide after a couple of minutes. David Lombard had the next opportunity but failed to connect fully with his shot when well placed. Midway through the half John Hobbs was very unfortunate to see his corner effort come back off the post with the keeper beaten. Richard Gash was also unlucky when his corner rebound went over the crossbar. All in all a very satisfactory conclusion to the league programme for Quins who remained focused throughout the whole league campaign.

W. Bateman, J. Hobbs, P. Chambers, C. Harte, J. Black, M. Black, J. Aherne, D. Lombard, P. Lombard, R. Gash, D. Eakins, D. Egner, P. McLaughlin, B. Hayes Curtin, R. Leonard, D. Harte