ON a weekend of mixed fortunes, Fingal Hockey Club did their Division 1 survival prospects no good – but picked themselves up 24 hours later to reach the Leinster Senior Cup Final.

Despite a nervy finish Fingal had enough in the tank to hold out for a 3-2 victory over Monkstown – the team who had beaten them by the same score in the league meeting the day before.

In their only previous appearance in the decider Fingal were defeated by Glennane, and having also lost a Neville Cup final Gerry Wheeler's team will be going in search of a first major trophy when they face Pembroke Wanderers in mid-March.

However, they will need to cut out some of the errors that crept into their play over last weekend's two games if they are to go all the way in Leinster.

Sunday's cup semi-final, played on neutral territory – ironically at Pembroke – started slowly, with both teams taking time to adapt to the lively bounce from the water-based pitch.

But on 14 minutes Paddy Gahan's pass released Gary Sharman and his centre was converted by Tom Manning to give Fingal the lead.

And just six minutes later a clever switch between David Bane and Derek O'Gorman saw the latter's shot saved, only for Chris Neville to slot in the rebound.

Monkstown won a series of corners just before half-time, but from one of them Fingal broke downfield, Paddy Gahan dispossessed a Monkstown defender in the circle and found Sharman who reversesticked to the net for 3-0.

It looked almost game over at that stage, but Monkstown responded straight after the interval through their New Zealander Andy Ewington, whose shot crept past Nigel Grothier in the Fingal goal. The game swung from end to end after that as Monkstown pushed on and Fingal threatened on the counter, notably through David Bane.

Three minutes from time Monkstown got the deficit back to a single goal when they scored from a rebound, but their subsequent efforts to force an equaliser and goldengoal extra time came up short as Fingal held on to book their place in the Leinster Senior Cup Final.

Saturday's league clash also started well for Fingal when they broke quickly from a Monkstown corner, led by Conor Connolly and Sharman. The ball was shipped on to Manning who slipped a defender and reverse-sticked to Gahan for a simple tap-in.

It remained 1-0 until 12 minutes into the second half when Fingal suffered a double whammy. O'Gorman was yellow-carded for kicking the ball away, and moments later Gareth Watkins shot home for Monkstown after Manning was dispossessed in his own circle.

Adrian Sweeny had a chance to restore Fingal's lead, but it was Monkstown who went ahead when David Bane's over-optimistic pass was intercepted and Watkins ran through to score.

Six minutes from time Fingal's fate took another turn for the worse when Lloyd Pearson inexplicably played the ball above his head, with keeper Grothier handily positioned behind him to deal with the situation.

Pearson duly received a yellow card and Watkins converted the penalty stroke to complete his hat-trick.

Despite being a man down, Gahan set up Sharman for a second Fingal goal and right at the death they had the ball in the Monkstown circle but just couldn't find a way through.

That result leaves Fingal still in danger of being dragged into the relegation play-off spot.

- Marcus CAVAROLI