Three Rock Rovers finally bag silverware

Three Rock Rovers bridged a 40-year gap to win the men’s Irish Senior Cup at Belfield yesterday, seeing off Pembroke Wanderers on penalty strokes.

Conor Harte’s penalty corner strike had Pembroke, victors over Lisnagarvey in the last four, in front, but Huub de With teed up Mitch Darling for a classy equaliser before Peter Blakeney fired Rovers into the lead from a rescued short corner.

Harte’s crash ball picked out Tim Hill to equalise for Pembroke with five minutes to go but Rovers — who had stunned holders Monkstown 4-0 in the semi-final — scored all their penalty strokes to win the shootout 5-4. It was Three Rock’s first title since 1974, when they beat Cork C of I 2-1.