HE'S a player known for his speed, but after blasting six goals for the Central West Premier League Hockey All Stars on Saturday, Riley Hanrahan could now rightly be known as 'the finisher'.
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The St Pat's talent scored in all but one of the quarters at Bob Roach Field to help the Central West All Stars to an 8-4 win over Northern District.
Hanrahan, who was last season's joint leading men's premier league goal scorer, could not recall a bigger personal haul since graduating from juniors.
"I don't think I've ever scored that many before, maybe back in junior boys but I don't know if that counts. So I'll take it," he smiled.
"A couple were from good passes. It's very rare you keep making that effort to get to the post, but if you know it's coming there, it's easy to push yourself to do it."
As Hanrahan indicated, his impressive haul was assisted by good play from his All Stars team-mates.
They included not only fellow Saints, but talents from Lithgow Storm, Parkes and Orange Wanderers as well.
They were players who gained selection on the back of the form they showed in season 2022. Hanrahan said they enjoyed the chance to be team-mates as opposed to rivals.
"It heaps of fun playing in this game. I love playing with these guys, it's good not having to try and flog each other like we do normally. Everyone enjoys playing a bit of rep hockey," he said.
"It was good out there, we had a lot of fun and scored heaps of goals. We all play a similar style of hockey, so while there's different tactics and all that when we play for our clubs, when we come together we're pretty fluid.
"Niel [Howard] coached, but he didn't have to say much, he just rolled us out into our positions."
While it wasn't the first time a Central West All Stars side had been in action, it was the first time they'd hosted Northern District.
Based in Pennant Hills, Northern District plays in the Sydney Hockey League.
The side it fielded on Saturday included members of its premier league squad as well as some players borrowed from Central West, including emerging St Pat's duo Will Daymond and Logan Speer.
"It was good for both those boys to play. Willy Daymond has shot up massively through the summer, so it will be good to see him and Logan throughout the season," Hanrahan said.
Being a pre-season fixture, the teams agreed that instead of penalty corners, infringements inside the circle would instead result with the attacking team earning a one-on-one against the rival goalkeeper.
It was in this fashion that the All Stars opened scoring, Lithgow talent Greg Nelson converting.
But each of Hanrahan's six goals came from the field and it was his first in the seventh minute which was arguably his best.
He intercepted a Northern pass, sprinted into the circle then unleashed a powerful drive that flew into the goal.
Fellow St Pat's talents Cody Sherman and Tyler Willott were both denied by sharp saves from the Northern goalkeeper as the quarter unfolded, as was Parkes' Declan Daley.
Down the other end of the field, All Stars starting goalkeeper Jack Westcott denied Northern in a one-on-one.
Hanrahan added two more goals to his tally in the second quarter as the All Stars pushed out to a 4-0 lead. The first of those came as he turned in a Ben Kelly drive, the other thanks to another missile after good lead up play from Oliver Bestwick.
Five minutes out from half-time Northern finally got on the board thanks to Vish Singh and when Taylor Dolbel converted from a one-on-one in the third quarter, the visitors were back in it at 4-2.
But Hanrahan saw to it that they didn't get any closer.
Firstly he set up Daley, then in the final quarter he bagged a hat-trick thanks to a well executed reverse stick shot and nice deflections on Nelson and Willott passes.
Though Northern did have some joy as Guy Smith struck twice - once from a one-on-one, the other from neat skill inside the circle - the honours well and truly belonged to the All Stars and Riley 'the finisher' Hanrahan.
