News

For the first time in 14 years Midleton College senior boys' hockey team qualified for the Irish schools hockey tournament in Ulster. The team qualified via an emphatic 7-0 win over Villiers. The draw was made and the team were dealt a harsh blow when they were drawn against Wesley, R.B.A.I. and Sullivan Upper. Wesley, a well known Dublin side were expected to go far this year while R.B.A.I, last year's beaten finalists were favourites to win the tournament, Sullivan Upper would also be strong favourites to beat Midleton.

The team travelled up on Wednesday 25th of October 2006 and were scheduled to play Wesley on Thursday and R.B.A.I and Sullivan Upper on the Friday. It was a daunting prospect and many people expected Midleton were there just to make up the numbers.

But Midleton started well against Wesley and had a goal dubiously disallowed. Wesley came back into it and grabbed a goal before the break. They built on this lead and it was soon 2-0 before long. In the last 15 minutes Midleton had started to get used to the pace of the game and pushed for a goal. That goal did come with a neat finish from Nick Murphy following a short corner. However it proved only to be a consolation and the game finished 2-1. The next day Midleton faced an extremely strong R.B.A.I. side and held them to 0-0 until the second half when the Belfast side scored four goals in quick succession. Ali Murphy did grab a goal late on against a side who narrowly lost the final. The Sullivan Upper game saw an excellent performance from the team to come back from a one goal deficit. The goals coming from Craig Moore and Ali Murphy.

The team played Kilkenny College in a friendly on the return leg of the competition recording a 4-0 win. The team performed exceptionally overall and punched well above their weight. Coached by Mr. Leopold, Mr. Seale and Ms. Power and captained by Craig Moore they proved their worth against some of the best hockey teams in Ireland.