Centre forward Ian Allen celebrated his 18th birthday in striking a late goal to earn Leinster two points in their 1-1 score draw with Ulster on the opening day of the under-18 interprovincial hockey championship at Kilkenny College yesterday.
In a finely-matched encounter, Jamie Plower played especially sturdily in the Leinster defence before the Ulster captain, Ian Hutchinson, put his side ahead from a penalty stroke 10 minutes into the second half. But a right wing surge by Peter McConnell gave Allen the chance to crash home the equaliser.
Earlier, Ulster had roused themselves from an early deficit to beat Munster 4-1. David Eakins opened the scoring from a short corner and, with Robert Shine defiant in the Munster goal, Ulster did not equalise until Hutchinson put away a penalty after the interval. Chris Barnes made it 2-1 before Simon Irvine and Barnes, with a fine reverse-stick shot, enhanced the margin.
In the under-16 championship, Leinster also left it late before a final offensive yielded a 1-0 defeat of Ulster. Derek O'Gorman, on his home pitch, potted a last-minute winner after goalkeeper Stephen Doran, John Cuppage and John Blakeney had played a leading role in keeping Leinster in contention.
Munster earned a share of the points with Ulster when Rory Heaslip cancelled out a fifth-minute goal by Ian Hamilton.
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