English hits a hat-trick to help Railway end their seven-year wait

MEN'S HOCKEY:Peter English's trio of penalty corners saw Railway Union ease to their fourth Tony Byrne Cup success, ending a seven-year wait for the title as they dismissed YMCA 6-3 in the National Basketball Arena yesterday.

For YM, it was a third final frustration in the past five years as they got little change from a compact Railway defence. They did hit the front early when YM reacted quickest at free time and Will Powderly was played in down the right, slipping home a ninth minute lead goal.

But Railway netted the next six to put the tie beyond doubt, crucially nullifying the threat of Polish star Krystian Makowski.

A World Cup silver-medalist in Poznan two years ago, Makowski was the star attraction for much of the competition but he found himself swamped in green and yellow with little room to manoeuvre.

Arcing flick

Railway’s corner routine was functioning well as English levelled, Kenny Carroll’s arcing flick made it 2-1 a minute later and Jeremy Duncan’s stylish finish stretched out the advantage.

English’s second meant it was 4-1 at half-time and YM’s hopes were fading further as English got a debatable corner rebound. Richie Forrest topped off his side’s scoring ten minutes from time.

Makowski missed a penalty stroke to compound matters but did fire two goals in the closing five minutes for a more respectable scoreline.

Railway will now head to Europe in February 2014 while Rovers are Ireland’s representative this year in Budapest in three week’s time.

How they finish there will determine what level Railway compete at.

RAILWAY UNION: S O'Keeffe, D Bane, R Abbott, R Forrest, K Carroll, P O'Brien, M English, P English, D McCarthy, K Chapple YMCA: I Walker, S Walker, I McHugh, L Chadwick, K Makowski, S Barry, B Chadwick, D Robinson, A Walker, R Whelan, B Campbell

Men’s National Indoor Trophy Final:

YMCA:  3 (K Makowski 2, W Powderly) Railway Union 6 (P English 3, K Carroll, J Duncan, R Forrest)

Semi-finals: TRR 2 (J Hosking, G Ringwood) YMCA 3 (D Robinson 2, K Makowski); Railway Union 5 (P O’Brien 2, J Duncan 2, D Bane) NICS 3 (G Grundie, Matt McCord, P Johnston).