MEN'S HOCKEY:THREE ROCK Rovers became the first Irish team to reach the last 16 of the Euro Hockey League in Lille, knocking out one of the pre-tournament favourites, Atletic Terrassa.
Friday afternoon's draw with the Spanish giants was followed by a superb 1-1 draw against Belgian champions KHC Leuven on Saturday. It was a hard-earned tie with the exertions of Friday's efforts weighing heavily on the legs of the Three Rock Rovers players as they made a couple of unforced errors early on, eventually falling behind to Pau Quemada's drag-flick.
Rovers were also reduced to 10 men for 14 minutes of the game as Gavin Bourke, Michael Maguire and Garry Ringwood were sin-binned. But defenders Alan Bothwell and Neil Lyons, combined with the outstanding goalkeeping of Charlie Henderson, kept Three Rock Rovers in the game.
A fraught final period saw Peter Blakeney miss by the narrowest of margins with a reverse. He was not to be denied, though, pouncing on a loose ball in the circle to level with just a matter of minutes left.
That result left Rovers in pole-position to take one of the two qualifying places. A score-draw between Leuven and Terrassa was the only result that could eliminate them in the final match of the group.
The Irishmen, though, were made to suffer as they watched from the stands. The Belgian side took a 2-1 lead by half-time but were subjected to a second-half onslaught by Terrassa, with Xavi Ribas, Roc Oliva and Inaki Freixa piling on the pressure.
Manu Leroy, the Leuven goalkeeper, ended up the hero, denying the equalising goal that would have eliminated them, blocking everything that came his way before Renaud Pagrazio sealed the 3-1 win with four seconds left on the clock.
Departing Irish coach Dave Passmore spoke last week of "the small-Ireland" syndrome that affects hockey in this country - citing the player's ability but not the belief to produce great results. For once, though, an Irish hockey team was not on the wrong end of a hard luck story.
Recent history has seen plenty of examples but Rovers coach Turloch O'Siochain had faith in his side which was classed as one of the rank-outsiders for progression from round one of the EHL.
"We came here to play, we didn't come here to sit back and defend. We talk about belief the whole time in the squad and I think we can say that all the players fully believe they can do great things," said O'Siochain.
On the domestic scene, Pembroke beat Glenanne 3-1 despite player-coach Craig Fulton receiving a red card and Ronan Gormley's penalty miss. Alan Sothern, Alan Giles and Gordy Elliott got the goals. Fingal went top, meanwhile, thanks to David Bane's goal on the final hooter.
