Oil-burning Three Rock Rovers II, most of whom are bracing themselves for the MOT, at least can relish one more tango in the Irish Junior Cup final against Annadale II in Dublin on March 18th.
It was an irony that two of Rovers' minority in the young front-running sector, Phelie Maguire and Mark Brooks, combined admirably to score their only goal against Bandon in Saturday's semi-final at Grange Road. Yet, after the Munstermen had responded with a last-minute equaliser by Ashley Smyth, it was such accomplished fatherly figures as Robin Madeley and Robert Haughton who contributed to winning the tie in the shootout (5-3).
Bandon were disappointed but no doubt John Dennis can continue to develop this youthful team to the degree that they can challenge Cork C of I and Harlequins for the Munster Premiership title in the years ahead. Not only were Ireland under-18s Ian Hosford, Andrew Kingston and Philip McLaughlin to the fore on Saturday but Richard Leonard and Dave Crowley also epitomised the eagerness of the side.
The final will be a repeat of the 1998 pairing in Banbridge, though Rovers cannot expect to win 4-0 on this occasion. The Annadale squad has been considerably fortified, not least by Kenny Morris, who put away the only goal in eliminating doughty Glenanne II at Lough Moss.
The Glenanne first brigade retained their Leinster Senior League lead in beating Three Rock 4-1 in an undistinguished game which had one unsavoury patch. Stephen Butler helped himself to another three-goal haul for the visitors who, though, were sobered somewhat by the news that Pembroke had registered three hat-tricks, by Gordon Elliott, Justin Sherriff and Dougie Goode, against YMCA.
Monkstown held onto third spot by fighting back at a late stage with an Ian Allen winner to beat Railway Union 2-1 while Corinthians lost ground in going under 3-2 to Aer Lingus, as well as losing 2-1 to Avoca yesterday.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)