EY Hockey League Round 5: Four 1-1 Draws, Shootouts Everywhere, and Portrane’s First-Ever Topflight Win
Round 5 in Ireland had a theme, and the theme was nobody blinking.
Ten games across the men’s and women’s EY Hockey League on Saturday. Twelve sides ended up sharing the points in regulation. Four of the five women’s matches finished 1-1. Honestly, you could’ve watched any game in the country and seen the same story: level, tense, and sorted out in a shootout or not at all.
The women’s league: 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-1
Railway Union and Loreto served up the best of it. Yasmin Pratt scored for Loreto in the final minute, again, to force a 1-1 draw at Park Avenue, and Railway still walked away happier, winning the shootout 3-1 to stay top of the table on 14 points.
Pembroke did the same thing to Queen’s University. Another 1-1, another shootout, Pembroke took that one 4-3 and they’re second on 12. Ards and Old Alex? 1-1, after Allie Heatherington converted a penalty corner in the final quarter for Alex, who then won the shootout 3-2. UCD and Pegasus in Belfield finished, yes, 1-1, with Pegasus nicking the shootout 3-1 for two points they badly needed.
The one game that broke the pattern mattered at the bottom. Portadown won 2-1 at Monkstown, Lara Wilson among the goals, and that’s their first win of the season. It lifts them out of the relegation places on four points. Monkstown, stuck on three, are running out of easy weekends.
Women’s results: Railway Union 1-1 Loreto (shootout 3-1), Pembroke Wanderers 1-1 Queen’s University (4-3), Monkstown 1-2 Portadown, Ards 1-1 Old Alex (2-3), UCD 1-1 Pegasus (1-3).
Women’s standings: Railway Union 14, Pembroke Wanderers 12, Queen’s University 9, Ards 9, Loreto 8, Old Alex 7, UCD 6, Portadown 4, Monkstown 3, Pegasus 3.
The men: Portrane make history, YMCA spoil the party
Portrane’s day is the one people will remember. The promoted side beat Cork Harlequins 3-2 in Donabate, and that’s the first topflight win in the club’s history. Against the other promoted side, too, which makes it doubly useful. Survival fights are won in games like that.
At Grange Road, YMCA stunned Three Rock Rovers 2-1 and stopped them going top. Monkstown finally won as well, 4-3 against Corinthian, with Lee Cole scoring twice on his return from injury. First win of the season, and it pulls them out of the relegation zone.
The champions had to work. Lisnagarvey drew 2-2 at home with Avoca, Guy Sarratt doing plenty of the damage for the Dublin side, before Garvey won the shootout 5-4 to keep pace at the top. Pembroke matched them, drawing 2-2 with last season’s runners-up Banbridge and winning the shootout 3-2, James Clarke proving the difference in the shootout.
Men’s results: Monkstown 4-3 Corinthian, Portrane 3-2 Cork Harlequins, Lisnagarvey 2-2 Avoca (shootout 5-4), Pembroke Wanderers 2-2 Banbridge (3-2), Three Rock Rovers 1-2 YMCA.
Men’s standings: Lisnagarvey 11, Pembroke Wanderers 11, Three Rock Rovers 9, Banbridge 9, Avoca 8, YMCA 8, Corinthian 6, Monkstown 4, Cork Harlequins 3, Portrane 3.
What it actually tells us
Five rounds in, the men’s league has a two-team breakaway forming and a genuine scrap underneath it. The women’s has Railway setting the pace and a midfield so bunched that one shootout swings a season.
Fine margins is a cliché because it’s true. On Saturday in Ireland, it was basically the whole league.
