Grosvenor In View Magazine 2025

89

1st XI Boys Hockey

Back Row (L-R): J Bell, F Cross, R Hobbs, T Barr, T Bailie, F McSorley, H Finlay Middle Row (L-R): Dr F Vasey, A Peel, L Waters, B Ewart, O Burns, M Peel, Mr M Nelson, Mr J Young Front Row (L-R): C Wilson, J Shields, A Stone (Capt), T McMullan, N Lakota

out at the first hurdle. Other games followed and we were able to learn much from the experience. We then played two 2nd XI teams from strong hockey schools: R.B.A.I. and Friends’ School Lisburn. We defeated RBAI 4-2, which included a hattrick from skipper Alfie Stone before dispatching FSL 3-0 with goals from Alfie Stone (x2) and Tom McMullan. Having beaten FSL 2nd XI comfortably, we decided to ‘have a go’ at their 1st XI. We coped well against very strong opposition, eventually losing 3-1 with Ben Ewart scoring our consolation goal. Our focus soon turned to the McCullough Cup Tier 2 Competition as we had made the final the previous season only to lose to Methodist College. Our first game was against Lurgan College which we won 2-0 thanks to goals from Finn Cross and Adam Peel. We travelled to the difficult fixture against Portadown College and thankfully beat them 4-2 with goals from Adam Peel, Thomas Barr, Matthew Peel and Alfie Stone. In between these fixtures, we managed to keep maintain our momentum with a victory over Methodist

The squad started the new season with some cautious optimism as we had lost some strong senior players from the previous season but remained hopeful that the new crop of senior players could stand up and be counted. Thankfully, as you will read later, we were not short of goals and the team managed to enjoy a very successful season. The season started with the usual curtain raiser against Methodist College, Belfast against a team we were likely to meet in the latter stages of some of the cup competitions later in the year. Goals from Rory Hobbs and Matthew Peel were enough to secure a 2-1 victory which was important in giving us some belief for the weeks ahead. As ever, we throw ourselves into the Irish Schools’ Qualifiers against very strong opposition in the hope that we make it through to the elite competition with the knowledge that if we qualified, we were good enough to be there; if not, we weren’t. Either way, the games serve as useful tests. We played Sullivan Upper first in a game that we lost 4-1 which effectively ruled us

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