Men’s National Indoor Trophy final
Three Rock Rovers 5 (J Hosking 2, B Ryder J Walker, J Althusmann) Railway Union 3 (J Pillow, B Parsons, K Carroll)
Three Rock Rovers won the men’s National Indoor Trophy title for the fifth time in six attempts as Jody Hosking’s late double and a last minute Ben Whelan stroke save proved the difference.
That save came with the game poised at 4-3 for Rovers with Railway seaching for an equaliser but the goalkeeper got a strong glove to Roland Schneider’s effort to keep the narrow. And in the final three seconds, Hosking finished off the win with left-board flick into an unguarded net to land the spoils.
Early on, Railway had the edge in a cagey first quarter with Jake Pillow scoring the only goal, ghosting around the back and finding a great finish from the right of the D.
Rovers fought back in Q2 with Ben Ryder levelling the game when he dragged into the goal from Ali Haughton’s pass and James Walker put his side in front, stepping in front of his marker to finish off a classy move via Jonas Althusmann and Eckart Geyer in the right corner.
Althusmann made it 3-1 at half-time with a spectacular flick from a corner rebound but Railway got back on track in Q3 with Brendan Parsons producing a direct corner goal from the top of the D.
And it was level at 3-3 when Carroll did likewise to set up a cracking finish to the contest. Rovers ran up a couple of corners in the closing minutes and from the last of them, Hosking whipped in a powerful shot for 4-3.
Ben Ryder in action for Three Rock against Cookstown. Picture Max Fulham (click image for more pics)
Railway stormed back, Eoin MacArthur’s shot hitting a body on the line but Whelan stood tall for his key intervention before Hosking added that extra gloss to the scoreline.
In the semi-finals, Three Rock had a comfortable passage through to the final with hat tricks for Ross Canning, Hosking and Althusmann in a 9-3 win over Cookstown. Railway were taken to the wire by Banbridge who cut the gap to 4-3 and won a string of late corners but the Dubliners held on for a final berth.
Three Rock Rovers: S Davey, E Geyer, B Ryder, R Canning, J Hosking, J Althusmann
Subs: B Whelan, J Walker, J Pabsch, D Shirley, A Haughton
Railway Union: S O’Keeffe, K Carroll, M Fulham, J Pillow, R Abbott, E MacArthur
Subs: F Keaveney, R Schneider, B Parsons, R Forrest, D Curley, J McKeever
Semi-finals: Three Rock Rovers 9 (R Canning 3, J Hosking 3, J Athusmann 3) Cookstown 3 (C Anderson, J Haycock, B Nelson); Banbridge 3 (J McKee 2, A Tinney) Railway Union 4 (K Carroll 2, B Parsons, E MacArthur)
Third place playoff: Cookstown 3 (C Anderson, J Haycock, B Nelson) Banbridge 2 (J McKee, N Glassey)