Wildcard Weekend - Match Report
Munster v Leinster (Three Rock)

Bandon 1 (Ali Smith) Three Rock Rovers 2 (Tom Samuel, Michael Maguire)

Bandon's Irish Hockey League qualification hopes were dealt a bitter blow as they were undone by a late Three Rock Rovers goal on day one of the wildcard play-offs at Garryduff last night.

With the west Cork side finally having hometown advantage after three years of hitting the road without success in this competition, Ger Burns side approached this tie with quiet confidence.

But it was Rovers who made all the early running, and they went ahead after Bandon defender Mark Deane was sin-binned for taking down an aerial above shoulder-height. The Dubliners made Bandon pay from the resultant corner, Irish U18 Tom Samuel slamming home on the second phase.

Rovers won a slew of corners but failed to take advantage, and Bandon gradually grew into the game, deservedly drawing level as Ireland A hitman Ali Smith drove a shot home across the visitors' goalkeeper Stephen West.

The game disintegrated into something of a disciplinary farce thereafter, with sin-binnings for Bandon's Scott Sullivan (not retreating), Andrew Kingston and Smith (breaking the line at penalty corner), while two Rovers players also saw yellow.

Sullivan's return didn't last long as he was shown another yellow for taking the ball above his shoulder, bringing with it an automatic red card. From the resultant corner, the first phase was broken down but the ball was reversed to the back post for Michael Maguire to touch home in the 65th minute.

A frantic last five minutes saw two more yellow cards, both for Three Rock players, but Bandon couldn't find an equaliser. Bandon must now hope Rovers see off Instonians tomorrow, to leave their clash with the Ulster side on Sunday as a straight shoot-out for the second spot.