Pembroke look vulnerable

Men's Hockey Weekend round-up: It was some weekend for Pembroke to sit back and reflect upon. On Saturday they went down 7-5 to Monkstown in the Leinster Senior League, thus setting up what should be a tense finish with a pivotal match against Corinthians to come. It should have been a more comfortable ending for Pembroke and it may now hinge on one game.

Yesterday they followed that upset with another and fell out of contention for the Leinster Senior Cup after a lively match against Glenanne, who emerged from Grange Road as worthy 2-1 winners.

In the other semi-final, also at Grange Road, home side Three Rock Rovers defeated Railway Union 4-2 to set up a St Patrick's Day final against Glenanne. Given the rivalry between Rovers and Glenanne that should generate some interest.

But it was Pembroke's weekend for the wrong reasons, and even given terrible conditions they will struggle to understand how they conceded seven goals in one game, although Monkstown can rightly claim a share of the limelight for their perserverance.

Glenanne, too, can take credit. Their more assertive and direct brand of play and their organised defence may point to areas where Pembroke could improve. Once almost untouchable, they are now a vulnerable team and how they react to that will be the making or undoing of them. Hopefully it will be sorted before the Club Championships.

A Clinton Murphy strike, nicely miss-hit, at a Glenanne corner let David Shaw touch in the first goal after 20 minutes for Glenanne to shoot into the lead after a bright opening. Ten minutes later it was Justin Sherriff who, for the first time in the game was given space and he punished Glenanne with a reverse stick shot for 1-1. Finally Paul Fitzpatrick took ownership of a slip at Glenanne's last corner of the half for the final 2-1 scoreline.

For Rovers it was Christian Judd, Charlie Carroll, Alan Bothwell and Peter McConnell, with a drag flick in the dying minutes of the match, who snatched their winning combination of scores, Stephen Jones and Karl Kinch hitting the Railway goals.

LEINSTER SENIOR CUP - Semi-finals (at Grange Road): Glenanne 2 (D Shaw, P Fitzpatrick), Pembroke 1 (J Sherriff); Three Rock Rovers 4 (C Judd, C Carroll, A Bothwell, P McConnell), Railway Union 2 (S Jones, K Kinch).