Team of the Week goes to none other than the women’s fabulous fives who crushed visiting side Malahide-Fingal 8-0 with Emma Meir scoring a hat-trick, Jess Lynch x2, Keelin O’Brien, Rachel o’Brien and Alison Magee one each. With newly appointed coach Paul Cronin at the reins, the side have pulled in a couple of experienced players from the vets and now with a little structure, the girls have renewed hopes of challenging this season. Elsewhere, the women’s 1s got off to an electric start as they raced into a two goal lead in the opening few minutes thanks to goals from Isabelle Napier and Niamh O’Brien, however, the visitors pulled back a goal in Q2 and applied pressure in the second half. A short corner goal was quickly followed by another goal that looped over the goalkeeper to put the visitors into a 3-2 lead and Corinthians battled on to claim the win and their fourth straight win from 4. The women’s 2s entertained visiting side Church of Ireland in the Irish Junior Cup. The W2s went ahead early in Q1 as Ava Paul reacted quickest to beat the GK and Helen Hudson added a second midway through the match. CoI pulled one back with a hard shot from the left of the D from Clara O’Sullivan but Avoca assured they would progress at Katie Halpin scored to seal a 3-1 win. The W4s notched a superb victory away at Serpentine Avenue beating Pembroke 2-1 with both goals from Suzanne Cullen while the W3s drew 1-1 with Rathgar at Sion Hill as Catherine Collins got the goal against a side that featured past members Cara Kelehan and Victoria Kelly.

W1 2-3 Corinthian
W2 3-1 Church of Ireland – IJC
W3 1-1 Rathgar
W4 2-1 Pembroke Wanderers
W5 8-0 Malahide-Fingal

Despite only two fixtures for the men on Saturday as the M2s went north to face North Down in the Irish Junior Cup with only a squad of 12 due to some unfortunate last minute drop-outs. Kudos to the lads that stepped up from the M3s last minute but it meant the sides were completely mismatched and a heavy 10-0 loss was the final outcome. The men’s 1s pulled off a superb victory away at Portrane with Herbie Fowler Hudson scoring from a short corner at the final hooter. Andrew Tutty and Jonathan Elmes had given Avoca the lead in the first half, but Portrane got back into the game in the final quarter to level the match to set up a nervy final few minutes; with Portrane in the ascendancy, it was looking like the home side would grab the win but Avoca snatched it at the death. On Sunday, the two sides met again in the Neville Cup at Newpark and on this occasion Portrane were more clinical and booked their spot in the next round winning 5-2. Andrew Tutty and Oran O’Sullivan scored in the first half as the sides were drawing at half-time, but two goals for the visitors in Q3 went unanswered and a final goal in Q4 meant Portrane got the last laugh this weekend.

M1 3-2 Portrane
M2 0-10 North Down – IJC
M1 2-5 Portrane – NC

Leaderboard

1 W2 M3 W4 M1 W5 – 1
2 W1 W3 M2 M4 M5 – 0

The women’s 2s recovered superbly from last weekend’s league defeat as they played Loreto midweek and pulled off a superb 1-0 victory thanks to a Kate Rushe thunderbolt from a short corner late in the game to snatch a valuable three points; Inter goalie Cathy Greene had kept out the visitors in superb fashion called into action numerous times to protect her net and it was just reward for a fantastic team effort as the girls scalped their EY fringe opponents. The M1s were also in action midweek and picked off a comfortable 3-0 win away at seaside neighbours Bray with Jonathan Elmes scoring twice and Ziggy Agnew the other. Both results set the standard for the weekend ahead…

The only women’s team playing at the weekend was the W1s and they beat Glenanne 1-0 in a tight encounter at Newpark which now sees them climb to 4th in the league – Zoe Watterson scorer of the only goal in the game. The M1s earned another victory this time against Rathgar winning 2-0 making it 3 wins from 3 and lead Division 1A with Railway Union; Cian Funge and Andrew Tutty scored and for their efforts claim Team of the Week for Round 4. The M3s pulled off a fine win against North Kildare as Sol McDonagh scored early before Ezra Handlemann slotted home from a stroke as the young Kian Gosling’s effort was stopped illegally on the line. North Kildare pulled a goal back from an impressive drag flick before Sol added his second and the side’s third as the youngster continues to bamboozle the league’s defenders. Avoca’s Kian Gosling scored a lovely move as the ball was shelled out from the back by Carl Breaden, a sweet 1-2 and Kian made it 4 diving in at the far post. North Kildare scored a late goal as Avoca lost a little concentration but another 3 points for Ian Keogh’s Mighty M3s. The M4s secured a point at home to a strong Corinthians side with Pat Lehane equalising after the visitors had gone ahead; manager James Martin said it was a great team effort from the guys who worked really hard to get back into that game and could have even won if the side had taken their chances. Youngster Mo Ghia was voted as man of the match as the youth of the club continue to step up their game!

Lastly, in the late game on the day, the M2s took on one of the league favourites in YMCA and knew they were going to be up against it from the off. 5 goals conceded but a consolation goal by Ben Marnell for Avoca was something to take away and will be fondly discussed in the Marnell household for some time to come…

1 W2 M3 W4 M1 – 1

2 W1 W3 W5 M2 M4 M5 – 0

A worthy nomination for TotW goes to the men’s 4s who pulled off a very impressive 1-0 win away to Mullingar as the lethal Conor Robinson scored the only goal of the game; however, our panel has awarded Team of the week to the fabulous Women’s 4s who notched up back-to-back victories and this time it was an impressive 5-1 victory against neighbours Monkstown; Tanya Massey, Leah Keogh, Megan Rankin, Suzanne Cullen and Lauren Doyle Shaw all on target. Elsewhere, the M2s picked up a hard earned victory away at UCD pipping the students to a narrow 2-1 victory; the competitive hard fought match had everything from floodlight failure to dissent and thankfully Rudi Wortmann was on hand to cool things down as matters got heated; Cormac McCooley and Hamish Scott bagged the goals to claim all the points.

The men’s 1s had Irish Hockey Trophy action and unknown quantity of South Antrim left the lads a little stunned as two breakaway goals in the first half for the visitors put them in the driving seat early on. Despite chances for our M1s, they were unable to penetrate and the visitors then scored a stroke in Q3. Goalkeeper Ben Mayberry was brought off in Q4 in an attempt to get back in the game but it wasn’t to be and in the end the visitors scored into an un-minded net. A sweet short corner routine at the death saw Avoca finally rewarded with a consolation goal by Andrew Tutty. Final score 1-4. The women’s 1s drew 1-1 with Trinity while the M3s match against Corinthian ended with the same scoreline. While the women’s 5s and 2s suffered tough defeats at the hands of old Alex and Muckross – head up girls!

No game for the M5s this week.

Team of the Week Leaderboard

1 W2 M3 W4 – 1 
2 W1 W3 W5 M1 M2 M4 M5 – 0

Second round of matches complete and it’s a clean sweep for the men with 5 wins from 5. The M1s got proceedings off to a great start with a solid 3-0 win over Clontarf at Newpark; Cian Funge, Finn MacAnna and Ruiari Nolan all on target. Kieran Bolger’s charges notched their first win of the season with a narrow 1-0 win over Glenanne as Cam McBain scored the only goal of the game. The Fierce 5s played their first match against UCD and a goal from Charlie Taylor in Q1 got the lads off to the perfect start. However Q2 and the students rallied to score two goals to reverse the lead before the break. Reinforcements arrived which meant Ian Wilkie was relieved from umpiring duties and so our evergreen life member got kitted up and soon turned provider in Q3 as he set up Peter Urwin to equalise. Gavin Jones scored the winner in Q4 before a late rally by the students but thankfully stand-in goalie Conor Robinson held firm between the pipes to secure a 3-2 win.

Team of the week goes to the M3s who following defeat last weekend, travelled north side to face Clontarf – 3 goals in the opening quarter set the tone and a goal in each of the following quarters earned themselves a 6-0 thumping. Youngster Michael O’Leary pulled off some great saves to keep the clean sheet and Sol McDonagh Cunningham scored his first goal of the season with a bullet that crashed against the backboard. No game for M4s as TRR were unable to field a team.

On the women’s side, despite going ahead 1-0 with a goal from Sophie Meir and a second by Isabelle Napier, the women’s 1s were undone by a Chloe Watkins hat-trick as Monkstown won 3-2. The W2 also played Monkstown and were unfortunate to lose 1-3 at Newpark. A great result for the W3s who beat TRR 3-1 with goals from Aela Cronin x 2 and Laura McCann while the W4s pulled off a superb victory away against Skerries winning 3-0; Alex Reid, Sarah Kelly and Suzanne Cullen with the goals. No game for the W5s as Genesis were unable to field a team.

On Sunday, the M1s played their second match of the weekend as they took on Trinity in the Neville Cup 2nd Round. The crowd were well and truly entertained as six Avoca goals were scored in Q1 alone; which included a spectacular goal by Cian Funge and Herbie Fowler Hudson. Trinity didn’t give up and clawed two goals back before Avoca added a final goal to book their place in the Quarter Finals. If you have not seen any live hockey of late – check out the fixtures for this weekend!

Team of the Week Leaderboard

1 W2 M3 – 1
2 W1 W3 W4 W5 M1 M2 M4 M5 – 0

Not a great day at the office in our opening round of matches with one win from 7 matches. Having said that, the M1s narrowly lost out in the cup midweek while the W1s started their season a week early and secured a vital 1-0 win. The M5s start this weekend coming.

The only win last weekend was for the W2s as Aisling Cullen broke the deadlock as she scored the only goal of the game in a narrow 1-0 win away at Trinity ensuring their are crowned team of the week for Round 1! The W4s came undone against visiting side Gorey who went ahead in the first half before doubling their lead in the second – despite pulling a goal back, time was against the W4s as they battled for an equaliser and in the end lost by the odd goal. Elsewhere, the W3s and W5s came up against very stiff opposition on their travels and returned back to base frustrated losing 0-5 and 0-6.

The M2s were losing by the odd goal going into the final quarter but as they pushed to get back into the game ultimately left gaps at the back and eventually lost 0-3 to TRR. The M4s took on PWHC at Sion Hill and despite chances were unable to convert and in the end lost out to a solitary goal. The M3s got off to a slow start as visiting side Enniscorthy took off at an electric pace which included former team mate Harry Merton; two goals in the first half but all to play for. A stiff talking to by M3s coach Ian Keogh got the troops going in the second half and the chances came; Emmet Lande pulled a goal back for the hosts and a succession of short corners ensued; however, it was not to be as the chances were not converted.

Team of the Week Leaderboard
1 W2 1
2 W1 W3 W4 W5 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 0