Lads come through Annadale Cup test, plus Mens weekend roundup

The men’s 1sts enjoyed a first round win against Annadale in the Irish Senior Cup. Pembroke fell behind to a goal within two minutes, but soon found their feet and were level again when Harry Spain opened his account for the club with a drag flick that the keeper couldn’t keep out. Annadale retook the lead just before half time when a slip in the Pembroke defence allowed Willie Edgar to slot the ball past Mark Ingram.

However, having learned the lessons from last years IHL capitulation against Annadale, Pembroke began the second half stronger and Kirk Shimmins was at the centre of all that was good. His quick thinking lead to the next two goals, firstly picking the pocket of the ‘Dale defence to tee up Al Sothern to smash home first time on his reverse.

The second saw him slide a ball through to Geoff Garrett for an assured finish. Scotty Furlong and Mossy Elliott then combined to set up Dave Molloy for Pembroke’s fourth, right on the stroke of full time. The dubious reward for this fine result is an away trip to ‘Garvey, but on this form the lads have nothing to fear.

Three second half goals saw the lads through their 1st round Irish Senior Cup tie

Elsewhere, the men’s 2nds enjoyed a weekend off, while the 3rds continued their indifferent start to the season with a 3-1 defeat to Railway under lights at Serpentine Ave. The 3rds have struggled so far with three of the stalwarts of last season’s campaign being unavailable thus far; Dougie Good has seen his fine form from last year rewarded with a return to the 2nds, Alan O’Sullivan has been away getting married and Michiel Tijs has also been missing. New arrival James Noonan has settled in quickly, though and youngsters Iain Styles and Frankie Fennell have also shown that they are up to the challenge of division 4.

The 4ths were beaten 2-1 away to Skerries with the decisive goal coming 30 seconds from time to ruin captain Keith Hamilton’s 100 per cent start to the season. The 5ths and 7ths were also beaten by just a single goal in their fixtures. The 10 man 5ths lost 3-2 away to newly promoted Clontarf in division 7 after a late cry off robbed them of a full team and apathy robbed them of an umpire.

Traditional slow starters, the 7ths went into an early two goal lead away to St. James Gate, before running out of steam and losing 3-2; many of that team having already played at least once that day.

The 6ths were the silver lining on the lower team cloud, recording a 3-1 win away to Rovers. Neil Bhandari and Mark Noone were among the goals on a cold morning at Grange Road, whilst the evergreen Dave Simmons showed his younger team mates just how to defend on a bouncy pitch, using his years playing on grit as a youngster to full advantage. Oisin de Barra at right back marshalled his flank superbly, allowing Buzzy McDonnell ahead of him to get forward and have a hand in all three goals.”