Glenanne get off the mark in Division Two

By Stephen Leonard

GLENANNE Men’s Division Two team chalked up their first point in four attempts this season after they dug out a 2-2 draw with Corinthians in Glenanne Park on Saturday.

The Tallaght side looked to be on course for another defeat after finding themselves 2-0 down, but goals from David O’Malley and Darrell Carey in the closing 15 minutes saw them salvage a share of the spoils.

And had it not been for a combination of some impressive goalkeeping and wayward shooting, the homeside might have managed more.

Still they were a goal down at the halftime break thanks to Ciaran O’Shea’s effort and it could well have been two goals had not Glenanne netminder Ian Clarke managed to get down quickly to deny Corinthians’ Ryan O’Malley.

A second for the visitors did arrive with 20 minutes to go when they were awarded a short corner from which Glen Holmes drag-flicked the ball into the bottom right.

Converting chances from set-piece play has proven to be a problem for this Glenanne side and this was the case again at the weekend as they failed to convert any of the 10 short corners they earned.

They did, however, pull one back by way of a penalty awarded after the ball had hit the foot of a defender.

O’Malley stepped up to despatch the resulting stroke and set up an exciting finish that saw Glenanne restore parity with just four minutes remaining.

Ireland senior women’s team coach Graham Shaw played the ball through to O’Malley and he deflected it into the path of Carey who produced a nice finish.

Shaw himself could have got on the scoresheet, but his couple of efforts were saved, while Clive Kennedy was also denied and John Stewart saw his effort travel wide.

Having managed to dig out their first point of the season, Glenanne will be hoping to build on that when they travel to Monkstown next Saturday.

Elsewhere the Glenanne firsts are still winless after four games in the Men’s EY Hockey League.

Pembroke inflicted on them their third loss of the season after Alan Sothern’s double earned his side a 2-1 victory at Glenanne Park.

It was from the penalty spot that Sothern opened the scoring, but Glenanne did have the opportunity to square the tie when awarded a penalty stroke of their own.

David Keogh was, how-ever, unlucky, his effort hitting the post, and instead Pembroke doubled their advantage, again Sothern punishing from the spot.

Glenanne did reduce their arrears in the final quarter when Stephen Brownlow applied the finishing touch to a penalty corner which he drag-flicked to the target.

The Tallaght side, who had Ireland international Shane O’Donoghue back in the side, did pile on the pressure late on, but some excellent goalkeeping by Mark Ingram helped keep Pembroke’s lead intact.

Glens will not be back out in action until November 5 when they face an Instonians side who have lost all four of their opening games and consequently prop up the table, a point behind the Tallaght side.