Monkstown triumph in Irish Hockey League final against Banbridge

Monkstown 2 (P Caruth 2)
Banbridge 1 (J McKee)

Peter Caruth timed his return to action perfectly as his double strike powered Monkstown to the Irish Hockey League title, seeing off Havelock Park hosts Banbridge in the final for the second year running. Caruth played just six games this season after a foot injury but was the star man all weekend for Monkstown. His thunderous slap-shot was the difference between the sides in a cagey tie that lacked the pizazz of last year's vintage, owing a huge amount to defensive rigidity. To that end, Lee Cole and Richard Sykes excelled to lay the base for the forward runners to pick up on two horrible Banbridge defensive errors. The first came 24 seconds into the second half when Kyle Good's pass skipped over two defensive sticks which could easily have intercepted. They did not and Caruth was left with a close range chance he dispatched with minimum fuss. Bann got back on terms with the move of the game with 18 minute to go. Eugene Magee's weighted ball allowed Stevie Dowds to open his legs before picking out John McKee. He controlled, turned and pushed past David Fitzgerald. The winner, however, came soon after as Davy Carson's ball into the circle was miscontroled by Scott Forbes onto his own foot, leading to a penalty corner. Caruth duly slapped home via a deflection to totally wrong-foot the immaculate Gareth Lennox in the Bann goal. From there, Monkstown looked the more likely to kill off the tie but the hosts did cause them discomfort with a last second corner. No matter, Kyle Good charged down Dowds' drag-flick and the title was heading back to south Dublin. It also means that Monkstown will have their 2014/15 European fate in their own hands when they head to Cagliari in June. Should they win that competition, they will more than likely take part in the elite Euro Hockey League next season.

MONKSTOWN: D Fitzgerald, L Cole, I Horsfield, N Dee, G Groves, D Carson, A Ward, G Watkins, G Shaw, R Sykes, K Good Subs: P Caruth, D Nolan, R Watkins, K Kenning, A Ewington, J Henry, J Carr.
Banbridge: G Lennox, S Forbes, J Moffett. M Bell, B McCandless, S Dowds, S Magowan, E Magee, P Brown, D Carlisle, H McShane Subs: J McKee, K Marshall, F Mills, R Beattie, A Reid, O Magee, P Bingham
Umpires: W McCully, D Ward