YMCA's incredible start to the season continued apace as they held off Banbridge at Havelock Park to take a surprise share of top spot with Lisnagarvey after three rounds of the men’s EY Hockey League.
Pre-lockdown, they sat in the relegation play-off place before the season was voided but this year they look in no such danger as Ross Henderson, Grant Glutz and Peabo Lembethe helped them run up a 3-0 lead.
Bann did get back in the mix via Eugene Magee and Eddie Rowe but, like last week against UCD, YM’s penalty corner defence withstood a late barrage to record a big away win.
They sit on nine points now alongside Lisnagarvey who were much too strong for Corinthian who slumped to a third successive loss, falling 6-0. Troy Chambers was the star man, scoring twice and having a hand in a couple of the other goals.
Monkstown’s perfect record was broken by UCD in a 4-4 thriller at the Merrion Fleet Arena in a game where the lead changed hands four times. Town led 1-0 and 3-2 by half-time but also trailed 2-1 and 4-3 late in the game as they struggled to contain Mark Samuel’s roving efforts down the right. Davy Carson, however, popped up with the equaliser to share the spoils.
Pembroke landed their first points of the season with a 2-1 win in a bruising encounter against Glenanne at Serpentine Avenue. Shane O’Donoghue put the Glens in front but fellow Olympian Alan Sothern equalised before half-time and the winner arrived in the fourth quarter from Cian Murphy from Julian Dale’s assist.
Three Rock Rovers, meanwhile, were far too strong for Annadale, recording a 10-0 victory at Grange Road with Ben Johnson bringing his tally to six goals in three games to date.
Dale’s cause was not helped by injury to goalkeeper Sam Hamill at 6-0 with 22 minutes to go. With no recognised goalkeeper on the bench, they decided against padding up an outfielder with the additional complication of having to sanitise the full kit.
Men's EYHL results:
Banbridge 2 (E Magee, E Rowe) YMCA 3 (G Glutz, R Henderson, P Lembethe)
Lisnagarvey 6 (T Chambers 2, J Lynch, A Williamson, B Nelson, M Aughey) Corinthian 0
Monkstown 4 (D Carson 2, S Cole, R Nichols) UCD 4 (S Walker 2, G Sarratt, P Lynch); Pembroke 2 (A Sothern, C Murphy) Glenanne 1 (S O’Donoghue);
Three Rock Rovers 10 (B Johnson 3, B Walker 2, L Adams, J Walker, H Morris, A Haughton, R Canning) Annadale 0
