Monkstown fly Leinster flag in Cup

HOCKEY:MONKSTOWN WILL fly the Leinster flag in the last four of the Irish Senior Cup after a thrilling extra-time victory over Instonians in Saturday's quarter-finals deprived Ulster of all four semi-final slots.

Cookstown, Annadale and Banbridge, Monkstown’s opponents, complete the line-up for April’s ties, none of the clubs having won the competition since Banbridge beat Three Rock Rovers in the 1986 final.

With three minutes to go on Saturday Monkstown’s hopes of reaching their third final in four years looked slim, until Andy Ewington’s goal made it 3-3 and brought the game into extra-time.

And it was Ewington’s long ball, three minutes after the restart, that created the golden-goal winner for his team, his pass finding Gareth Watkins who fired a reverse stick strike home.

Two goals from Ross McCandless gave Banbridge an expected victory over NICS, but there was an upset in the other all-Ulster tie when Annadale beat Lisnagarvey 5-3 on penalty strokes after a 2-2 draw.

Annadale will meet Cookstown in the semi-final, goals from Stephen Sloan and Ian Sloan (two) giving the 2009 beaten finalists a 3-0 win over Fingal.

Glenanne, meanwhile, moved four points clear at the top of the Leinster Division One table by beating Three Rock Rovers 3-2 – YMCA, though, have a game in hand.

Meanwhile, Railway Union had a successful time of it in Bratislava over the weekend, four wins out of five at the EuroHockey Indoor Club Champion’s Challenge enough to win the tournament.

Their success also earned Ireland promotion to the Indoor Trophy, the second division of the series, although recently-crowned national champions Armagh have yet to decide whether they will compete in next year’s tournament for cost reasons.

Victories over Serbia’s HK Bask (3-2), Portugal’s Belenenses (9-1), hosts Raca (1-0) and, in their final match, Turkey’s Nizip halk Egitim (6-4) saw Railway take the title by a point from Croatia’s Zrinjevac, the only side to beat the Leinster club in the event (6-4).

A hat-trick from captain Kate Dillon, along with goals from Isobel Joyce, Kate McKenna and Cecelia Joyce, sealed the win for the Kenny Carroll-coached side over their Turkish opponents yesterday.

Back home Railway’s rivals for the Leinster title both won on Saturday, Hermes beating Corinthian 2-0 and Loreto easing to a 6-2 victory over Pembroke Wanderers. Those results leave Hermes at the top of the table, two points clear of Loreto but having played two more games.

Railway are now four points adrift of Hermes, but have one game in hand.

Irish Hockey Trophy – Second round: Three Rock 3 (B Charmont 2, S A O'Connor), Galway 1 (E Carey).