THE Leinster Senior Cup semifinal between Pembroke Wanderers and the holders, Glenanne, holds the prospect of being one of the most gripping games of the season at Serpentine Avenue tomorrow. Their previous meetings have been finely balanced with Pembroke winning an Irish Senior Cup tie 2-1 at Tallaght, their league tussle ending in a scoreless draw and Glenanne capturing the Neville Cup in a shoot-out.
Much may depend this weekend on the form of the rival short-corner shooters, Stephen Stewart and Stephen Butler (both graduates of the Whitechurch academy). While Butler excelled in Glenanne's league defeat of Three Rock Rovers last Saturday, he faces an unfamiliar netminder deputising for Malaysia-bound Nigel Henderson tomorrow as former youth international Jason O'Brien has joined Pembroke after several years' inactivity since his departure from Three Rock.
Stewart failed to score against Glenn Bailey in Pembroke's setback at the hands of Monkstown in midweek but sufficient opportunities may now be on offer to confirm his status as Dublin's leading set-piece marksman, even if Ian Clarke has other ideas between the Glenanne posts.
If Francis de Rosa is free to play for Pembroke, this will strengthen their chances of reaching the final. Glenanne, though, are expecting to field the same side which caught Rovers cheekily on the break, while Rory O'Donoghue is ready to resume.
In the other semi-final of the Cable & Wireless-sponsored competition, Three Rock may be in the mood to make the most of their resources against Railway Union at Park Avenue. Railway gained an exhilarating 3-2 victory over Rovers in the league at Grange Road in November but appear to have lost steam lately.
. Senior figures in the Leinster Hockey Umpires' Association have been saddened by the death in Surrey, aged 64, of Tony White, a leading English international umpire and administrator.
Spending three years in Dublin in the early 1970s, he was whole-heartedly involved in the LHUA, notably in developing training programmes and encouraging umpires with his award of a golden whistle.
He was chairman of the FIH development committee until last October and was also chairman of the steering committee which has seen the men's and women's associations in England merge into one body. He would have been an ideal counsellor in helping the independent Irish unions to complete their obligatory fusion by the year 2000.
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