Garvey finish season in style as they score six past Railway Union

The win, the 16th in succession gave them the final tally of 51 points from their 18 matches scoring 60 goals in the process.

The next objective is the Irish Hockey League Champions Trophy at Havelock Park on Saturday 30th April.

The three other teams in the tournament are the hosts Banbridge, Monkstown and Pembroke who scraped into fourth place in the IHL last weekend.

The winner of the two day event will then represent Ireland in the European Hockey League next season.

Garvey welcomed back captain, Jonny Bell, Mikie Watt, Paul Gleghorne and goalkeeper John Tormey to their squad and their addition proved to be far too much for the Dublin visitors.

The home side began with great purpose forcing their first penalty corner in the 6th minute but Railway keeper O’Keefe made a good save from James Lorimer and in the 11th minute he again blocked a second corner from the same drag flick taker, but all the early pressure went unrewarded as the first quarter ended goalless.

A fine sweeping move in the 18th minute led to Garvey’s well deserved opening goal; Paul Gleghorne found Timmy Cockram and his pass to Mikie Watt gave him the chance to score on his reverse side past O’Keefe e with power in the shot.

Watt nearly added goal number two just a minute later but put his shot narrowly wide of the post.

However, he made no mistake after Cockram and Ryan Getty had done the work in the 23rd minute giving Garvey a 2-0 advantage in the second quarter and they should have added a third when Matthew Nelson won their 3rd penalty corner in the 25th minute; O’Keefe made a save and the rebound was sliced over the bar by Paul Gleghorne.

A half chance fell to Eddie Dore in the 28th minute but he could not convert the opportunity and the half time interval was reached with Garvey well on top and still leading by 2 goals to nil.

The man of the match, Mikie Watt shot into the side netting in the 36th minute but made no mistake a minute later when he put the finishing touch to a great pass from James Lorimer on the left of the Railway circle to seal the game with a 3-0 lead.

A brilliant dribble by the very talented Sean Murray set up Timmy Cockram for the fourth goal in the 39th minute and it could have been five if Andy Forrest’s shot had not been saved by O’Keefe in the 43rd minute with Garvey now totally dominant.

Daniel Buser engaged O’Keefe again in the 48th minute before the visitors forced their first and only penalty corner of the game; it was totally botched and from the break Garvey swept to the other end involving Neal Glassey and Sean Murray before Matthew Nelson found the net only seconds after Railway had had their chance with a set piece.

The fifth goal had been the strike of the match but Garvey were not finished as Andy Williamson completed a marvellous afternoon with an unstoppable penalty corner drag flick which went into the Railway net off the cross bar in the 53rd minute.

The last few minutes of the IHL season saw Garvey almost add a couple more goals through Sean Murray who brought two fine saves out of the pressurised O’Keefe but the new champions were more than pleased with their performance on the day totally outplaying their Dublin opponents by 6 goals to nil.

The IHL trophy was then presented to Garvey captain Jonny Bell by Michael Kidd representing Ernst and Young the main sponsors of the competition.

The President of the Irish Hockey Association, Richard Kendrick then congratulated Garvey and the sponsors for a very successful competition in its first season and looked forward to the Champions Trophy on the 30th April at Banbridge.