A hugely successful weekend for the Mens’ 1sts as they progress to the second round of the Irish Senior Cup without even lifting a stick. Well done men
South Antrim 2nds 1-2 Banbridge 2nds (J.Brown)
South Antrim 2nds made the journey to Havelock Park on Saturday past to play a Banbridge 2nds outfit, who will almost certainly look to mount a serious challenge for the Junior 1 trophy this season. Taking confidence from recent impressive performances, and with an almost full squad of players available this weekend, the boys started the game well, weathering any initial pressure that was forced on them. South looked threatening on the counter attack, with John Semple and Jack Redpath pulling the strings in the centre of midfield, holding and distributing the ball when necessary to release the menacing forwards, Neil Wilson and Darren Hutchinson. Hutchinson, who was dazzling the defence with his trademark twists and turns found himself on the wrong end of a green card for appealing an umpiring decision, which was quickly upgraded to a yellow for apparent dissent. Throughout the first half both sides created numerous chances, none of which came to anything, and a 0-0 score line at half time was a fair reflection of the first 35 minutes. The second half started quite sluggishly for the Lisburn lads, and after increased pressure from the Bann attack, the boys found themselves a goal down via a back post deflection from a short corner. That goal, as disappointing as it was, seemed to spark somewhat of a reaction from South, and before they knew it found themselves back in the game, when James Brown latched on to a mistake from the Banbridge defenders and slotted the ball calmly between the legs of goalkeeper Anderson. The game continued with several chances for both sides, which notably included some heroic defending from the ever-present centre back Matt Frazer, clearing the ball off the line twice in quick succession. Throughout the course of the game South felt aggrieved with several umpiring decisions, and, with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, it was one of these which lead to a penalty corner for the home team, and it was through this that the team’s hopes of returning to Lisburn with a deserved point were dashed. In a near carbon copy of their first, Banbridge scored the winning goal, and with only seconds left the boys were unable to mount any worthwhile attacks. Final score Banbridge-2 South Antrim-1. Thanks to Gordie McCandless for travelling to Banbridge to umpiring.
South Antrim 3rds 5-0 Newry 3rds (G.Glass x2, C.McCandless x2, C.Black)
South Antrim 3rds entertained Newry at FSL in what was always going to be a fiesty encounter between to club’s with history of fiery clashes. Newry targeted South’s younger players and made a heavy challenge in the early stages that set the tone for a physical encounter. Stephen Hood was an obvious target for the visitors, Hoody though, somewhat uncharacteristically, given his recent encounter with Newry, kept his cool. South stuck to their game plan and weren’t drawn into petty clashes. They were rewarded and went one up through George Glass, as he received the ball in the circle, beat to players and finished cooly. After a few scares from Newry attacks, South got a second to ease the nerves through Callum McCandless, who was in the right place at the right time to tap in back post. At this poinst Newry seemed to give up the fight and South never looked back in the second half and went on to register another three goals thank to Chris Black and second for Callum McCandless and George Glass. George had a penalty flick saved which would have secured his hat-trick.
South Antrim 4ths 2-4 Lisnagarvey 6ths (A.Hamilton Jnr, A.Collins)
South Antrim 4ths welcomed our friendly rivals from Hillsborough down to Friends School Lisburn, with South hoping to do better than when the sides met in the League Cup earlier in the season. However, this was always going to be a tough match for South and this wasn’t helped by conceding the first goal of the game from some sluggish marking. After this, South woke up and began to play some nicer hockey with the club’s current top scorer Alan Hamilton Junior adding another goal to his tally for the year after some good work inside the D. Garvey came back at South scored two in quick succession with some wily veterans using their experience against a young South side. South Antrim came back again and got back within one after Archie Collins got the ball from the right hand side before coolly slotting the ball past a helpless keeper. Unfortunately South conceded shortly after, and were chasing the game thereafter. The match finished 4-2 to Garvey in a close affair which could have went the other way.
South Antrim 5ths 2-0 Belfast Harlequins 3rds (A.Pyper, N.Donald)
South Antrim 5ths traveled to Harlequins hoping to get back to winning ways. The boys started brightly and pressed the Harlequins’ defence. However, with South still reverting to hammering the ball into the circle, chances were wasted. With Peter Davis marshalling the south defence any counterattack from Harlequins was quickly stopped. With the score level at halftime, South started the second half the stronger, this time working the ball to the bye line and attacking from there. South’s pressure eventually paid off with Nathan Donald tapping the ball over the line to go one up. Harlequins still looked dangerous on the counter but the South keeper was rarely troubled. Despite numerous short corners, they boys couldn’t convert and failed to find a second. However, a quick hit out by Davis in defence found young Faulkner in midfield. A quick pass to Bell on the right found him in free space. With a sprint up to the 25 line he hammered the ball into the circle for Pyper to control and slot past the advancing keeper. In the dying minutes Harlequin’s won a short and with a well hit shot heading for the net Wallace in nets made his only save of the match to keep a clean sheet and secure a 2-0 win for South.
The Ladies Club had no games this weekend.