A mammoth 37 goals in five men's EY Hockey League games marked an explosive day two of the competition with Lisnagarvey, Three Rock Rovers, UCD and Pembroke cashing in.
Garvey and UCD are the only two sides left with a perfect record after two rounds with the former hammering Ulster rivals Annadale 10-1 in Strathearn.
They raced into a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and would be 5-0 up at half-time before Dale got some respite via Chris Tremlett in the second half. However, Andy Williamson and Daniel Nelson both netted hat tricks while Ben Nelson’s double meant this was a handy win to add to their 6-0 success against Pembroke a week ago.
UCD, meanwhile, were too good for YMCA. The students did fall behind early on to a Grant Glutz goal but four replied before the end of the first quarter opened out a 4-1 lead with Andrew Meates netting twice against his former club.
The lead was extended to 5-2 by half-time and 6-2 by the three-quarter mark before YM got a couple of consolation goals.
Three Rock and Pembroke, meanwhile, bounced back from their opening day defeats to land big wins over strong opposition. Rovers fell behind twice in the opening quarter against Banbridge with Harry Morris and Ben Walker canceling out Bruce McCandless and Philip Brown goals.
Rovers took over that with Walker’s second making it 3-2 at half-time and killer goals from Jody Hosking and Sam Grace closed out a 5-2 victory.
Pembroke’s 6-1 win over Glenanne was built around three goals in the first nine minutes with Alan Sothern registering in the first minute before Rob McCollum added two in quick succession. Jack Ryan got the fourth before half-time; Stephen Brownlow got one back but Harry Spain and Sothern’s second insured no late drama.
Corinthian and Monkstown both recorded their second draws of the season from two games to date after a late exchange of penalty corners. Ian Stewart gave the reds the lead with 18 minutes to go but Rory Nichols levelled in the final minute for Town.
The league takes a break next weekend. Three Rock Rovers will head to Barcelona to play in the Euro Hockey League while there are five Irish Senior Cup first round matches on the agenda domestically.
