Rovers claim Junior Cup

Who dares To speak of '98 - that is 1898, when Three Rock Rovers carried off the Irish Senior and Junior Cups, and 1998, when the possibility remains of the double being repeated.

Wear and tear, merely, of up to 40 years was in evidence as Rovers II, in beating Annadale II 4-0 at Banbridge on Saturday, carried off the junior trophy for the first time since 1979. And, on the week of Spike Milligan's 80th birthday, William Haughton added a second medal to the one he won with Lisnagarvey in 1977.

For Stephen Walker, the main bulwark of the defence, there is the challenge of achieving a rare distinction of becoming a dual medal winner next weekend when Three Rock go into the senior final, if as outsiders, against Instonians.

From an early stage, Walker stood as a virtually unshiftable buffer to the Annadale approaches as his own attackers steadily made ground and penetrated the cover.

Niall Denham appeared from the bench to open the scoring from a short corner won by Robert Haughton after quarter of an hour, and two goals within two minutes before half-time left the issue in no doubt. A thrust from the back by Stephen Walker sent David Sterritt through to make it 2-0, and then Sterritt fired in a cross for Simon Walker to score clinically.

Roddy Van der Lee, a valuable figure throughout the campaign, saved a penalty stroke from John McDermott as Annadale contested the second half with some spirit. The Three Rock goalkeeper also showed his agility in foiling Colin Riddell, before the winning scoreline was embellished three minutes from the end as Redmond Cabot, with a sense of theatre, flung himself into finishing off a well-rehearsed corner.

It should be noted that this was the fourth year in a row for a Leinster side to take the laurels. Among Rovers' less senior figures, Johnny Sleeman gave a polished performance at left-back, and he, too, may take some part in next Saturday's double bid, for which Rick Johnson has been summoned back into the first-team squad.

Three Rock Rovers II: R Van der Lee; W Haughton, Stephen Walker, R West, J Sleeman; R Varian, R Haughton, K Empey (capt); C Carroll, Simon Walker, S Tilson. Subs: N Denham, R Cabot, D Sterritt, P Osborne.

Annadale II: C Clarke; J Young (capt), G McBriar, K Patterson, J King; J McDermott, C Riddell, P Bland; P Doble, M Kendall, J Cousley. Subs: N Crawford, D Agnew.

Umpires: W McCully, R Ewart.

Naas, promoted to Division Two in the Leinster League, completed a double in beating Birr, 2-1, in yesterday's Intermediate Cup final replay at Park Avenue. Captained by Des Healey, Naas scored through Pat Herbert and Ciaran Davenport after John Benn had given Birr an early lead.