December 1999

Last 16 place for Trinity

Trinity progressed to the last 16 of the Irish Senior Cup after
coming back from 2-0 down to beat Portadown 4-2 at Santry. Michael
Harte scored twice with Charlie Carroll and Christian Judd also
on target. The fixtures for the other three teams had to be postponed
due to unavailability of players.

Trinity maintain top spot

Trinity held onto their two point lead over U.C.D. at the top of
Division Two with an emphatic 8-2 victory over bottom of the table
St. James’s Gate. In wet and windy conditions at the Iveagh Grounds,
the students were too strong for a Gate side that has struggled
so far this season. Charlie Carroll and Christian Judd both scored
twice, with the rest of the goals coming from Dave Johnston, John
Lush, Michael Harte and Gareth Hinds.

North Down face winners

The reward for victory in next weekend’s Irish Senior Cup third
round game against Portadown at Santry will be a home tie against
North Down. The draw in full is as follows:

IRISH SENIOR CUP FOURTH ROUND

Pembroke Wds v Railway Union
Lisnagarvey v Cookstown
Cork Cof Ireland v Mossley
Cliftonville v Kilkeel
D.U.H.C./Portadown v North Down
Banbridge v Cork Harlequins
Corinthian v Avoca
Annadale v Instonians

(all matches to be played on Saturday January 15)

Trinity into third round

Trinity progressed to Round 3 of the Irish Senior Cup with a hard
fought 2-1 win over Antrim at Santry. Michael Harte scored both
goals to secure a home tie against Portadown on December 18th. The
2nd XI suffered a hangover from the Christmas dinner on Thursday,
losing 2-0 in Gorey on Saturday and 3-1 to Y.M.C.A. on Sunday. Meanwhile,
a goal from Robin Hayes was not enough to prevent the 4th XI going
down 2-1 at home to Weston.

November 1999

Trinity forced to replay tie

Trinity have been notified by the Irish Hockey Union that their
4-3 golden goal victory over Antrim in the second round of the Irish
Senior Cup must be replayed. The sides will meet again at Santry
on Saturday after it was revealed that the golden goal method of
deciding cup matches is not used in the competition. Portadown await
the winners in the third round.

Good weekend for Trinity sides

Trinity enjoyed a profitable weekend with three wins out of four
in the league. The 1st XI remain top of Division Two thanks to Greg
Dunne’s late goal against St. Brendan’s/Phoenix Park. Rivals UCD
kept up the pressure with a 6-0 hammering of Suttonians to keep
the gap at two points. Meanwhile, the 2nd XI showed that they are
coming into some form by beating Railway Union 7-1, including a
hat-trick from Ross Cullen. The 3rd XI were unlucky to go down 2-1
to UCD at Santry but there was joy for the 4th XI as they overcame
UCD 2-1 at Belfield thanks to goals from Carl Hosford and Aidan
Neill.

So close against Rovers

Trinity ended a demanding week with yet another fine performance
when they were defeated by Three Rock Rovers on penalty strokes
in the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup. Alistair Cullen,
Michael Harte and Jamie Hart were on target in normal time, but
when extra time failed to produce a goal, Rovers won 4-2 in the
shootout. It was heartening to see Trinity match a Division One
side despite the tired legs. Read a match report from Dermot Ashmore
of the Irish Times here. A small measure of revenge was extracted
the following day when Trinity’s indoor team recovered from a 4-0
half-time deficit against Rovers to win 7-5. The victory clinched
a place in the Indoor League playoffs on November 28th.

Mauritius Cup victory at last

After a 14 year wait, Trinity finally got their hands on the Mauritius
Cup when they defeated the hosts UUJ 3-2 in the final of the Intervarsity
tournament. After a week during which the team found its best form
of the season, victory was fully deserved. The final itself was
a pulsating game with a high level of skill and determination. Trailing
1-0 to a goal from Scott McCandless, Trinity hit back with goals
from Michael Harte and Gareth Hinds only for Andy Barbour to level
matters from a penalty stroke. Then, with extra time looming, Michael
Hartescored a fantastic individual goal to clinch the trophy. The
Trinity ladies won the Chilean Cup for the fourth successive year,
making for a double celebration in Ballymena on Thursday night.
Seven Trinity players were selected for the Irish Universities squad
- Charlie Carroll, Crawford Deane, Greg Dunne, Marcus Gageby, Jamie
Hart, Michael Harte and Gareth Hinds. See the results from the week’s
matches here.

Irish Senior Cup victory

Trinity progressed to the second round of the Irish Senior Cup
by the narrowest of margins when they defeated Queens University
in a penalty shootout at Santry. Trailing 1-0 for much of the game
after probably the worst performance of the season so far, a last
minute equaliser from Gareth Hinds meant that the tie went into
extra time. Queens wasted some great chances but there were no further
goals and it was down to penalty flicks. With Trinity keeper Crawford
Deane saving two and two off target from Queens, Gareth Hinds and
Charlie Carroll scored for a 2-1 victory for Trinity. The teams
meet again on Wednesday in the group stages of the Intervarsity
tournament in Belfast.

Leinster Senior Cup draw

Trinity have been drawn to face Three Rock Rovers in the first
round of the Leinster Senior Cup. Rovers beat Trinity 2-1 in the
Piggot Cup last month, but on the other hand, Trinity gained revenge
last weekend when they beat Rovers 7-5 in the Leinster Indoor League.
The winners of the tie, which will take place at Grange Road on
November 13th, will face Clontarf in the second round.

October 1999

Winning run ends

Trinity 1st XI finally lost their 100% record when they were held
to a 2-2 draw on the grit at Skerries. Charlie Carroll and Gareth
Hinds were the goalscorers, but despite laying siege to the Skerries
goal in the final 20 minutes, Trinity had to settle for a point.
The result means that UCD, who are also unbeaten, have closed the
gap at the top of Division Two to two points.

U-21 disappointment

Trinity crashed out of the Leinster U-21 Cup on Sunday after surrendering
a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 to Glenanne. With Ireland U-21 midfielder
Michael Harte amongst the goalscorers, Trinity looked set to progress
to the third round until a late comeback by the hosts turned the
match on its head.

Winning weekend

It was a good weekend for Trinity with league wins for both the
1st and 2nd teams at Santry on Saturday afternoon. The 1st XI maintained
their 100% record in Division Two with a 9-1 victory over Portrane.
Charlie Carroll and Gareth Hinds each scored four with Michael Harte
also on target. The win sees Trinity move 4 points clear of rivals
UCD. The 2nd XI put in a solid performance to record their first
win of the season, overcoming Corinthians 4-1. Ross Cullen chipped
in with two goals with Jamie Hart and Johnny Harte adding gloss
to the scoreline.

Irish Senior Cup draw

Trinity have been drawn at home to Queen’s University in the first
round of the Irish Senior Cup. The match takes place on November
6th, two days before the team travel to Belfast to take part in
the annual Intervarsity tournament, where Trinity have been placed
in the same group as Queen’s.

Indifferent Year for DU Hockey Players

John Lush rounds up an eventful if not rewarding year for Trinity Hockey

Dublin University’s men’s hockey teams returned to the new season with renewed vigour and new tans to show off. They knew after their relegation last year from Division 1 that they would now have to face tough journeys to play in glam fixtures like Naas, Skerries and St.Brendans/Phoenix Park.

Unfortunately they did not get the start they hoped for, for when they lined up for the first game against St.Brendans/Phoenix Park as a threadbare Trinity side battled their way through a tough match on the grass eventually ending on the losing sid e by a 3-2 scoreline. The team was stronger for the match against Skerries but a lack of team understanding and Leinster Umpires ensured that they could only manage a 1-1 draw. The next game was more promising as they managed to claw themselves back from 2-0 down to dr aw 2-2. The season finally got going with an impressive 4-0 win over Clontarf, who had won their three opening matches comfortably and who in fact ended up winning the league. From that point on in the season Trinity showed, most of the time, what a class act they really were. Good wins against DCU, Eastern Health, Suttonians and Portrane ensured that Trinity were the form team of Division 2.

However, it was the all-weather pitches of Skerries and Naas and the battling qualities of St.James’ Gate that would ensure that Trinity would have to settle for a play off place against YMCA. With regards to the annual battle royales against UCD in the league, each side came away with a win apiece, UCD winning 2-1 at Belfield and Trinity cruising to a 3-0 win at Santry. In colours the spoils were shared 2-2. In the playoff against YMCA Trinity were unlucky to finish on the losing side in an enthralling game which ended 2-1. YMCA were left praising the lord and thanking their lucky stars that Trinity had been unable to find 5th gear on that fateful day.

Intervarsities were a disappointment. Trinity, with a lazy attitude, were incredibly beaten by DCU in the first match which left the chance of winning the cup very slim. Although they battled well against UU they could not recover from the early loss and ended up having to settle for the plate beating RCSI 5-0 in the final.

In the cups Trinity were disappointing losers to the impressive Ulster Division 2 outfit North Down in the Irish Senior and unlucky to lose 5-2 to Irish Champions Pembroke Wanderers in the famous “Free the Santry Four” game when the umpire insanely sent off four Trinity players.

There were many star performers in Trinity’ s heavily worked squad. The find of the season was Irish Under-21 midfielder Michael Harte. His pre-season stint in Uganda certainly paid off as the high altitude training and healthy herb intake ensured that he could float past defenders with ease and take his hockey’s skills to a new high. Captain Marcus Gageby was always a rock at the back, Ali Cullen’ s driving runs from right back always looked threatening and on the occasions he remembered to go around the player instead of trying to flatten him he delivered the goods. The old reliable Gaz Hinds did the business up front. His calculations and 23.2 degrees angled runs fooled the opposition and his Zidane-like hairstyle sent shivers down the defenders backs. Ross Cullen, once he remembered to stop when he came near the end line looks like one for the future as does Andy Mitchell whose projectile thrusts both on and off the pitch caused many problems.

Well, so near yet so far, However, next year surely Trinity must walk Division 2. With the new rule banning the use of all-weather or grass pitches Trinity should bring their home in Santry on the road and rocket themselves into Division One.

The Seconds started off brightly, winning 5 out of their first 6 matches. Up until Christmas they were pushing for first place with the Cruyff like Edo Edens at the back controlling things, Hart in midfield and the guiding light Marcus Keane setting up Stephen O Connor for goals aplenty. However, they struggled in the second half of the season, only managing 3 more wins.

The thirds are a young side with many promising players fighting for a place on the seconds. Vinnie Ramiah’s men, when at a full compliment mixed it with the best of them.

Finally the fourths. The fourths are the most consistent team in Trinity bar none. They have managed to finish in the last position of the entire Leinster league for the last four years running, and that is no mean feat. There was never a lack of players, enthusiasm and enjoyment shown by Johnnie “Bunghole” Bridge’s men. Despite having players of the calibre of young rising star Carl Hosford, the dark destroyer Paddy O’Reilly, the goalscoring phenomenen Jamie Hatton, Peter “alls-orts” Rowell and the twin towers of Big Al and GI they still managed their magnificent achievement.