Hockey: Cork teams unbeaten after opening day of EYHL Division 2

Bandon were 3-1 victors over Portrane in a fast-paced contest, Fionn O’Leary and Ethan Hamilton-Foott setting the result in the closing quarter.

Cork C of I and Bandon made confident starts to their EYHL Division 2 campaigns with opening day wins over Dublin debutants while Cork Harlequins drew with Clontarf.

Bandon were 3-1 victors over Portrane in a fast-paced contest, Fionn O’Leary and Ethan Hamilton-Foott setting the result in the closing quarter.

Ali Smith had put Bandon in front when he got on the end of a good team move just before the end of the first quarter.

Davy Graham, though, latched onto a through-ball from Imran Khan – an ex-Pakistan and Azerbaijan international – who finished well on the break.

But O’Leary and Hamilton-Foott – from a slick move – in quick succession sent the points south for a strong start to the group. Elsewhere in the group, Cookstown defeated Mossley 5-1.

For C of I, theirs was a handy 5-0 win at Rathgar with three of those goals coming in the first half. Phil Sweetnam set them on their way in the fourth minute; Rob Sweetnam got the next from a flowing team move and Eoin Finnegan finished with a brilliant low shot into the bottom corner.

Gar, though, held up reasonably well in the second half with stand-in goalkeeper David Meade pulling off a number of stops.

He was swapped out for an extra outfielder in the closing minutes and the move back-fired with Rob Sweetnam and Mark Gallagher completing the victory.

This pool looks a hugely competitive one with Ulster Premier leaders Instonians beating Leinster’s top side 4-3 with a late salvo.

At Farmers Cross, Munster sides were denied a clean sweep of results with a 2-2 draw for Harlequins against Tarf. John McNally put the Dubliners one up in the second quarter before Jack O’Meara equalised from a corner.

Brian Hayes-Curtin’s amazing end-line run put Quins in front for the first time before Davyn Keuter got the Bulls back on terms in the third quarter of an end-to-end tie.

Kilkeel wait in the wings for these two sides in a three-team group from which two sides will advance to the playoffs.

On the women’s side, UCC drew 0-0 with Trinity in what already looks like a very tight Pool A of the women’s EYHL2. Ards and Corinthian drew 1-1 in the other game in the group with Olympian Zara Malseed salvaging a share of the spoils.

In Pool B, Cork C of I were undone 3-0 by a hugely impressive Monkstown who now also feature Anna O’Flanagan in addition to Chloe Watkins and the striker scored her first goal since rejoining the club recently. Queen’s won 3-0 against NUIG in the other game.

In the EYHL top tier, Catholic Institute returned to the top four with a crunching 8-0 win over Belfast Harlequins with Naomi Carroll scoring a hat trick.

Cork Harlequins, though, lost by the same margin to Loreto and now face a crucial couple of of fixtures in December when they meet both of their relegation rivals Belfast Harlequins and Muckross.