Three Rock Stun Garvey and Pembroke Go Top as Banbridge Hit Nine
The title race in Ireland just got blown wide open, and it happened in one afternoon.
Three Rock Rovers beat league leaders Lisnagarvey 2-1 at Grange Road on Saturday, with Kevin O’Dea and Ben Johnson getting the goals and Andrew Williamson replying for Garvey. The reigning champions came into the weekend top of the table on 14 points, and they leave Dublin level with Three Rock and Avoca, all on 14.
That’s because Pembroke Wanderers are the new leaders. They beat Monkstown 4-3 in a seven-goal game, Alan Sothern, Mark Clery, Andrew Tierney and Keith Brierley all scoring, with Ross Henderson, Stephen McGrath and Ross Canning replying for Town. Three points takes Pembroke to 17, three clear at the top, and they’ve now won the games that matter two weekends running after last week’s narrow 1-0 win over Portrane.
Banbridge had the loudest scoreline of the day. They beat newly promoted Cork Harlequins 9-0 at Havelock Park, and they shared the goals around: Phillip Brown, Owen Brown and Matthew Spence all scored twice, with Harry McGrath, Tom Wotherspoon and Zach McClelland adding one each. Cork have had a brutal return to the top flight, and this was their heaviest day yet.
Avoca kept themselves right in the mix too, beating Portrane 2-1 with Rob McHugh and Rob Heffernan on target and Conor Keating replying. That takes Avoca to 14 points as well, so four sides are now covered by three points at the top, with Banbridge three further back on 12.
The last game of the day went to a shootout. Corinthian and YMCA finished 1-1, Sam Bourke scoring for Corinthian, and YMCA took the bonus point with a 3-0 shootout win.
For our money, the next 24 hours matter as much as today did. Three Rock go again on Sunday, away at Pembroke at 2pm, and a win there would put them level with the new leaders on 17 points. A double-header weekend against the top two was always going to define their season. They’ve passed the first half of it.
