Leinster Indoor league final – Winners!
Three Rock Rovers 10 (J Hosking 3, R Canning 3, A White 2, L Madeley, F Morris) Railway Union 7 (M Nowakowski 3, D Richardson 2, K Carroll, J Dick)
Words from www.hookhockey.com
Hat tricks from Jody Hosking and Ross Canning inspired Three Rock Rovers to win back the Leinster indoor title from arch rivals Railway Union 10-7 in the final at St Columba’s
Railway have held sway for the past three seasons but they struggled to tame the twin midfielders at the heart of the Rovers’ dice, especially when breaking out of defence.
It was level five times before the Rathfarnham side pulled clear in the last ten minutes. Hosking – later named man of the match – had made the early inroads with his three goals all coming in the first half.
His first was a delightful lob and he made it 2-1 from a corner in the fifth minute after Mateusz Nowakowski had levelled. Kenny Carroll’s corner goal and an effort from James Dick made it 3-2 before Alan White and David Richardson traded goals for a 4-3 lead.
Rovers, though, countered twice with Canning tying it up for a fourth time before Hosking completed his hat-trick off the back of an Eckart Geyer turnover. Indeed, the German teenager was Rovers’ key defender at left back as they built a 5-4 half-time lead.
Luke Madeley put two between the sides for the first time two minutes into the second half. Railway, though, looked the side in the ascendancy for much of the next tean minutes with Nick Tate the key impetus from the back.
They created two brilliant openings for Nowakowski which he took to make it 6-6 with nine minutes left. But, once level, they could not carry on with the same threat and Rovers pounced. Canning scored from a narrow angle off White’s assist to retake the lead.
He then scored a stroke after Rovers’ second corner hit a body on the line. Railway pulled their keeper in favour of an extra outfielder but the strategy back-fired as Fred Morris finished into an open net as did White for a 10-6 lead.
Richardson got one back on the final whistle but Rovers were celebrating their fifth Tony Byrne Cup success. Both Railway and Three Rock now advance to the national finals which take place next weekend.
Earlier in the weekend, Three Rock saw off Avoca 7-2 in the semi-final with Hosking scoring a hat trick while Railway beat Corinthian 13-4.
The boys now join Railway in this weekends National Finals, with the overall winner representing Ireland in the European Competitions next year. Their semi-final is in Columbas at 3pm Sunday, with the final at 5pm should they win.
