The well-regulated season fell further into shape on Saturday, notably as Bangor, in squeezing out Railway Union 5-4 on strokes after being pegged back to 4-4 in the second-round replay, completed the line-up for the last16 stage of the Nissan-sponsored Irish Senior Cup.
Railway, though going 2-0 behind after five minutes, fought with typical resilience at Ballykillaire as they brought the open game into extra time. Young striker Brendan Parsons largely kept the Leinster side in contention but ultimately it was one of Bangor's Ulster under-18 stars, Simon Irvine, who put away the decisive flick in the shoot-out after the home goalkeeper, Stephen Cumper, had saved defiantly from Parsons.
Bangor's opponents in the all-Ireland competition in Dublin next weekend, Three Rock Rovers, reached the semi-finals of the Leinster Cup in overcoming Monkstown (5-0) at Grange Road and will also be at home, in a fortnight's time, to Pembroke Wanderers.
Rovers failed to get their short corners out of Glen Bailey's reach in the first half but a penalty stroke converted by Liam Canning after the interval allowed them to become more expansive and a succession of goals brought applause from the balcony as Gordon Elliott, Liam Canning, Garry Ringwood and Dave Fleming attacked with elan. It was an encouraging game for Ross Varian to make his full debut in midfield.
Three Rock II and well-balanced Corinthians II emerged as the only Dublin survivors in the Irish Junior Cup, with Simon Walker and Stephen Pim each scoring twice in the 4-3 and 3-0 eliminations of UCD II and Belvedere II, repectively. Pembroke were in no danger of losing Leinster Senior League points to UCD but the treblechasing leaders were flattered by the 6-0 margin as the students were much depleted. Short three of their leading figures, they took the gamble of transferring several members of the second XI from Grange Road to Serpentine Avenue match but, with no free-flow of traffic, they had to start with eight players as Pembroke (who willingly would have waited) quickly took a two-goal lead.
Trinity, with Adrian BryceSmith and Robert Tilson ruled out through injury and then having goalkeeper Peter Spencer concussed at an early stage, also were hit for six, by Avoca at Belfield. Avoca, already shaping themselves for next season, introduced front-runner Dave Fanning and he put his name on the scoresheet, to which Anton Scott contributed a hat-trick.
Glenanne kept their outside hopes alive of catching Pembroke by beating Corinthians, 2-1, at St Mark's. In a tight game, the home side's long-serving centre-back, Rory O'Donoghue, showed admirable fitness for his 40 years in subduing Colin Stewart, while Stephen Butler was on the target in each half from a penalty and a corner before Tom Connell replied at too late a stage for Corinthians. With five matches to play, Glenanne are still six points behind the leaders and they may feel that the Mills Cup is the more realistic target.
The second division looks like yielding places back in the premier grade for Kilkenny and Portrane. Kilkenny, with two goals by hurler Conor Harrington and one from former international Richard Willis, might have expected a more handsome victory than 3-2 over lowly-placed St James's Gate at the Iveagh Grounds but they have taken a clear lead in this their 25th anniversary season.
