Railway Union's English hits hat trick as Cookstown lose in Dublin

Two easy goals in the first four minutes set up Railway Union for an impressive win over Cookstown on Saturday.
Greg Allen, CookstownGreg Allen, Cookstown
Greg Allen, Cookstown

Mark English was the hero for the Dubliners with his hat trick playing a major role in the victory.

The three points moves the Park Avenue side back into the top half of the table while the loss puts Cookstown, unbeaten in their three previous matches, back to the bottom of the EY Hockey League table on goal difference.

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Thsi is because Annadale managed to defeat Glenanne 2-0 at Lough Moss and again go level of points with the Reds.

The match on Saturday was the second high-scoring win of the season for David Bane’s side over the Tyrone outfit, having won 7-3 earlier in the campaign.

Simon McKeever opened the scoring in the first minute when he finished off Eoin MacArthur’s great touch. James Dick deflected in Mateusz Nowakowski’s cross for the second for a 2-0 quarter-time lead. There were questions raised about Cookstown’s defending during the build up to both goals.

Dick then went solo, weaving through a couple of tackles, before setting up English for his third goal.

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Ryan Millar got one back from a straight strike at a corner to reduce the gap to 3-1 at half-time.

Greg Allen got another back to get Cookstown back into range. The striker picked up the ball just outside the circle and beat three defenders before dragging the ball past the Railway goalkeeper.

Cookstown were very much in the driving seat during this period. However, English’s corner drag put Railway out of range once again. He hit the post soon after before landing his hat trick.

Dick nabbed his second for 6-2 before Cookstown closed out the scoring through Millar who deflected high into the net from a pinpoint Allen pass.