IRISH HOCKEY LEAGUE FINALS:A CONTROVERSIAL first Irish Hockey League season drew to a close yesterday at Grange Road as Pembroke completed a near perfect year with their fourth title in a month.
They did so by ousting their keenest rivals, Glenanne, in a similar vein to the women's final - by virtue of the new penalty one-on-one shoot-out after the game had finished 2-2.
Player-coach Craig Fulton netted the crucial goal before the game's key player, David Harte, stood tall to deny Shane O'Donoghue's effort and a 2-1 win.
Teething problems with the decider's rules and format, though, abounded, with technical delegate Nigel McCullough called to adjudicate on Graham Shaw's penalty. Harte saved the effort but a concerted appeal by the Glenanne bench that the goalkeeper had left his line too early meant McCullough ordered a retake, though the Glens claimed a penalty goal was warranted.
David Keogh had given Glenanne the early impetus but Wanderers' hitman Alan Sothern struck his 57th goal of the club season to make matters level by half-time.
Paddy Conlon produced a breath-taking steal to deny Graham Shaw a shot on an empty target, but Stu Loughrey broke the deadlock with a wonderful strike past the advancing Steven Doran. Parity, though, was restored within three minutes as Butler's drive was redirected high into the net by Eddie O'Malley with 11 minutes on the clock.
PEMBROKE:D Harte, C Harte, R Gormley, C Kelly, T Lewis, P Conlon, C Fulton, A Sothern, G Elliott, J Sherriff, S Loughrey. Subs: S Lowrie, M O'Connor, M Elliott
GLENANNE:S Doran, J Brennan, A Browne, R Shaw, G Shaw, G Shaw, P Fitzpatrick, S Butler, J Goulding, B Parsons, S O'Donoghue. Subs: D Shaw, D Keogh, J Kane.
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