SCHOOLBOYS' HOCKEY LEINSTER SENIOR CUP FINAL/St Andrew's College 3 Wesley College 3 (St Andrew's win 5-4 on penalty strokes):JAKIM BERNSDEN'S penalty save handed St Andrew's their fifth Leinster Senior Schoolboys' Cup title at the expense of Wesley at Grange Road yesterday as they avenged their agonising loss of 12 months ago, again via a shoot-out.
These two schools have a habit of serving up classic finals but Andrew’s appeared intent on removing any drama from proceedings as Lee Cole’s superb reverse-stick effort and a cracking Cillian Hines’ strike had the Booterstown outfit 2-0 up inside six minutes.
But Wesley were back level by half-time as Luke Madeley – incredibly scoring in his fourth underage final in a fortnight – and Jack Perdue were on the mark.
Fiachra Maher appeared to have regained the title after a year in Wesley hands when he dived on the end of Mark Loughrey’s excellent reverse-stick cross.
But Madeley slung in his second of the day two minutes before the end of normal time, forcing extra-time. Chances were scarce while cards were plentiful, the sin-bin count reaching seven in the final as penalty strokes ensued. St Andrew’s converted all five while Bernsden’s save in the third round ultimately handed his side glory.
WESLEY COLLEGE: M Wright, L Madeley, R Clarke, J Lewis, D Shirley, K Shimmins, J Perdue, J Sutton, K von Eickstedt, I Stewart, B Chadwick. Subs: N Pelow, AJ Browne, J Roberts, A Oglesby, D Winn.
ST ANDREW’S: J Bernsden, J Codd, R Nair, A Service, M Loughrey, L Cole, D Cole, F Maher, C Hines, A Rooney, E Foy Subs: B Campbell, G Browne, O O’Halloran, R Hohn, A Bailey.
William Eickholdt’s first half goals powered Sutton Park to just their second A hockey title at Grange Road yesterday as they beat Wesley 2-1 in the minor final.
In the process, they also became the first side outside of the Wesley and St Andrew’s axis to win the title since Sandford Park in 1996 – Sutton were the beaten finalists that day. Yesterday they held off a rousing Wesley second-half fightback in which Darragh Walsh, who scored from a penalty corner, played a starring role.
