Pembroke's revenge is immediate

HOCKEY:PEMBROKE AND Corinthian picked up a win apiece from their double-header this weekend at Serpentine Avenue with the former needing just 24 hours to exact revenge for Saturday's league defeat.

Alan Sothern’s first-half double handed the ’Broke a 2-0 win yesterday to earn a place in the Mills Cup final, where they will face Fingal, 3-2 victors over Monkstown.

Those results reversed the Saturday Leinster league results as Corinthian blew the title race wide open with a 2-1 win over Pembroke, while Monkstown won 3-2 in ALSAA against Fingal.

For Pembroke, their cup win ended a run of three consecutive losses to Corinthian, running since the 2009 Mills Cup final, for the all-conquering national champions.

Maurice Elliott laid on the perfect square ball for Sothern to roll home inside three minutes.

The striker added a penalty stroke 20 minutes, reflective of a composed performance as Corinthian struggled to get going in the first half. It was also a personal triumph for Sothern, having seen a penalty stroke saved by Ross Murray in the league encounter.

Corinthian stormed back into the contest in the second half and, but for a string of top-class saves from David Harte, should have forced their way back into the tie.

Seven penalty corners also went unconverted as the reds camped in the opposition 25.

It was a different matter entirely in the league as Corinthian made the most of fewer chances, coming from behind to claim victory. Justin Sherriff’s reverse-stick crash on the stroke of half-time had Pembroke in front but player-coach Andrew Cronje converted a penalty stroke to level and Brian Doherty ripped in a low flick with 10 minutes to go to settle the matter.

The result means Glenanne – 5-1 winners over Railway Union – are right back in the mix for the title with their tie against Pembroke in March likely to be the key fixture.

Fingal, meanwhile, reached their second Mills Cup final following a first-half blitz against Monkstown as they raced into a 3-0 lead through Tom Manning, Chris Neville and Gary Sharman goals. The Town fought back with New Zealander Andy Ewington zipping in a drag-flick and Ian Allen rebounded to make it 3-2 with four minutes to go. But they ran out of time and lost out at the semi-final stage of the competition for the third time in six years.