Ladies 1s and Mens 4s secure promotion and U11 Girls win Cup
There was more success for BHC this weekend with the Ladies 1sts taking top position in Senior 2 and gaining promotion for the second successive season. This will see the Ladies return to top flight Ulster hockey for the first time in many years. This followed the success of the Men’s 4s who last week achieved a guaranteed second place finish in Junior 3 and promotion to Junior 2 next season with games still to play. The Men’s 4s beat Mossley 5-2 the previous weekend with goals from Joe McKnight (2), Peter McKnight, Michael Young and Gary Dean.
Not to be outdone by the Senior Teams, the Under 11 Girls side shared the U11 Cup with Lurgan at their Finals Day on Sunday. Bann are still on course for further league titles and promotion with the Men’s 1s, 2s and Ladies 2s all within touching distance as they go into the final league games of the season.
The Men’s 1s were up against Civil Service in their penultimate home game of the season on Saturday. The Men’s 1s remain unbeaten in the Premier division. Bann took the lead through Johnny McKee but Service equalised before half time. Bann started the second half with a better tempo, forcing mistakes from the Service defence and went ahead with a goal from Dane Ward. Stevie Dowds was unlucky not to convert a flick and several corners but Bann soon secured their win with two further goals from Josh Moffett finishing the game 4-1 to Bann. Banbridge now only need two wins from their remaining three games to secure the league title. The team entertains Instonians on Wednesday night at Havelock and are hoping to take one step closer to the title.
Following their success in Cork the previous weekend in the Irish Junior Cup, the Men’s 2s returned to league action with an away game against Kilkeel. Bann put three goals past the Mourne men through a brace from David McAnulty and Ross McCandless in the first half. Kilkeel came back into the game in the second half and scored two goals with O’Neill in goals forced to make some further saves to keep out the equaliser. Bann managed to defend well and hold on to take the maximum 3 points and are still on course to take the top position in the League. This weekend sees a return to IJC Action against Cookstown 2s in the semi-final on Sunday.
The Men’s 3s travelled up the A1 to take on Lisnagarvey 4s and they went down 5-0 to their rivals.
The Ladies 1sts travelled to Knock knowing that a win would crown them as league champions with a promotion to Senior 1. It was Knock who took the lead after a lot of pressure on the Bann defence. This seemed to kickstart Banbridge into action and the girls found themselves able to retain a greater amount of possession, forcing Knock back into their own half resulting in a corner which was converted by Alex Gordon. While Knock continued to cause problems for Bann, it was Bann who broke the deadlock after Amanda Morton scored from a short corner and Bann held on to take the three points and secure the League Title with a game still to play.
The Ladies 2s travelled to take on the league leaders Lisnagarvey 3s who they had already beaten this season. This was high tempo game from the off with both sides jostling for position. In the opening phases it was Banbridge that found themselves on the back foot playing reactive hockey and ‘Garvey soon took the lead. Bann stepped up their game in the second half and caused problems for the home side. Player of the Match Nadene Black converted from a short corner to level the score with minutes reaming on the clock. The Banbridge girl’s gained a valuable point from this match and continue their fight for promotion in the last few games of the season.
Full match reports on the Team Pages of the website.
Fixtures for this weekend still to be finalised and will be updated on Facebook. Details to date are as follows:
Fixtures 6/9/10 March 2013
Thursday 6th March
Men 1s v Instonians @ Havelock @ 7.45pm
Saturday 9th March
Mens
1s v Lisnagarvey away at 2.30pm
Ladies
2s v Harlequins 4s away at TBC
Sunday 10th March
Mens 2s v Cookstown 2s IJC Semi Final away at 3.00pm
U11 Girls who were joint winners of the Ulster Hockey 11 Cup