Banbridge took home their third Irish EY Champions Trophy in a row in front of a home crowd in Havelock Park following a dramatic shoot-out.

They had finished third in the regular season but beat both of the clubs who finished above them over the weekend, defeating Three Rock Rovers on Saturday before winning against Lisnagarvey on Sunday.

They retained the title, coming from behind thanks to a Peter Brown penalty stroke in normal time to eventually win the shoot-out 4-3.

Garvey had the best of the first half of the final and went ahead via Andrew Williamson. 

And they held that lead all the way through to Q4 when a corner led to a stroke which Brown calmly slotted for 1-1.

Luke Roleston then produced the shoot-out heroics to earn a ticket to next October’s EHL KO16.

Railway Union retained the Irish women’s national title to earn a return ticket to the EHL as they held off Loreto in last Sunday’s final.

It gives them the chance to emulate their historic debut at Easter when they became the first Irish side to win in EHL Women.

A physical opening quarter saw Loreto dominate possession but Railway Union produce two eventually vital moments.

A Railway penalty corner in the fourteenth minute was dispatched by Róisín Upton to open the scoring.

Just two minutes later, Katie Mullan stung the palms of fellow Ireland compatriot Elizabeth Murphy with a powerful reverse shot, the resulting lose ball falling to Emma Smyth to volley into the net on her reverse stick.

Loreto – who had won the regular EY Hockey League title – did get one back from a penalty stroke in the fourth quarter from Caitlin Sherin but Railway held on for back-to-back national crowns.

Western Wildcats will be back for a fourth successive EHL campaign as they swept to a 7-0 win over Watsonians in the Scottish men’s championship final.

The game started with an end-to-end contest and both sides had penalty corner charged down.

It wasn’t too long before Western Wildcats took the lead. Adam McKenzie popped up with a sublime near post deflection into the roof of the net to make it 1-0.

A pivotal moment came in the second quarter and it went the way of Western; Fraser Moran launched a drag flick into the bottom left corner and made it 2-0.

Jamie Golden put further daylight between the teams when he smashed home a drag flick to make it 3-0.

Andrew McAllister inflicted further damage before half time when he forced the ball over the line from close range to make it 4-0.

Luke Campbell in goal for Watsonians produced some excellent saves from efforts by Rob Harwood; Simon Wells; and Moran in the third quarter to prevent further Western goals.

Rob Harwood made it 5-0 in the final quarter after some excellent build up play by Wells on the right – Western were enjoying themselves.

They soon enjoyed a sixth goal through an exceptional finish by Jamie Golden to lob the goalkeeper to make it 6-0.

The scoring was completed by a second goal for Moran through a thundering drag flick into the top left corner of the net. 7-0 and EHL for Western Wildcats.

Scotland’s first ever Women’s EHL spot was claimed by Watsonians with a sensational 6-1 victory over Clydesdale Western at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre in their championship final.

** Picture: Rob Lindblade

The game got off to a fast start with both sides testing each other’s’ defensive shape but not able to create any clean opportunities.

It was Watsonians who struck first and it came from a super Anni Arthur burst into the circle from the left, which concluded with Arthur scooping the ball into the top right corner to make it 1-0.

A blink of an eye later and it went to 2-0 after Sarah Jamieson tore through the Clydesdale defence and set up Fiona Burnet for a tap in.

Clydesdale Western barely had a chance to dust themselves down before they concede a third goal. A stroke was awarded to Watsonians and despite the best effort from Cara McAllister in goal, Katherine Holdgate made it 3-0 from the spot.

The Watsonians tidal wave kept surging forward and Emily Dark made it 4-0 with a drag flick into the top left corner right at the end of the opening quarter.

Jenny Eadie struck back for Clydesdale Western when she swivelled and struck a penalty corner into the back of the net to pull it back to 4-1.

Bethan Mann stubbed out any ideas of a comeback when she started and finished a move with a far post finish for 5-1.

Clydesdale took off their goalkeeper for an extra outfield player and it worked against them. Watsonians attacked down the right and the cut back deflected of a Clydesdale stick into the empty net for 6-1.

Gantoise toasted their EHL success in style as they invited the wider club to be part of a homecoming celebration at their home for their Super Sunday.

The club made history by becoming the first club to win EHL Men and Women medals in the same season with the former winning gold and the latter taking bronze. In addition, their U14 boys also won their EHL competition at HC ’s-Hertogenbosch over the Easter weekend.

While a large contingent from the club made the trip north to be there in person, singing en masse throughout their medal matches, the club were keen to give everyone the chance to be part of this special moment.

Last Sunday, they had the Alain Danet trophy on display next to the Belgian men’s and women’s championship trophies while two days earlier, Gantoise attempted a world record challenge with all sections of the club taking part.

Club President Fabrice Rogge said of the moment: “It was really special – it was the first time all three of these trophies were in the same place, set together and it was really nice to have Jokko [de Wit – EuroHockey commercial manager] could be there to hand over the EHL trophy to our captain Antoine Kina and say a few words. We really appreciated it.

“We have had this big success at the EHL and it’s nice to celebrate with all the members. For the world record attempt, we had 538 members last Friday – from hockey, tennis and padel, from our top stars to the youngest – lifting the ball up and doing ‘keepy-uppys’ at the same time.”

The record was officially verified and Rogge says it now sets a marker for other clubs to try and beat. Most of all, it was a unique way to bring all the club together as the perfect moment.

And their week can got even better on Thursday afternoon when their women confirmed top spot in the Carlsberg 0.0 League with a 6-1 win over Waterloo Ducks. It gives them a confirmed EHL ticket while the men will hope to match that on Sunday; a win over Orée would confirm first place and an EHL spot for them.

You are never too old to move! Walking Hockey made its debut at the Euro Hockey League this Easter as part of a collaboration between EuroHockey and the BrabantSport Fund local clubs HC Oranje-Rood, HCDB, HC Tilburg, Push and the National Senior Citizens Fund.

The modified version of hockey is designed for people of all ages and abilities but is particularly suitable for people over 50, people with disabilities, or people recovering from injury. 

At the EHL, Den Bosch played host to a clinic of the sport with similar events taking place around the province.

The project stimulates physical activity, social interaction and aims to motivate clubs to set up walking hockey so that seniors can stay active and socialise in a sustainable way.

Overall, the aim is to introduce 200 elderly people to Walking Hockey and get at least half of them to participate in sports in an ongoing basis. 

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