Opportunity knocks on Sunday as the men’s and women’s Munster Senior Cup finals take place at Garryduff with the potential for new names to claim the trophy.

Last Saturday morning, Naomi Carroll left her home in Cratloe, Co. Clare and pointed the car in the direction of Cork, where her Harlequins team saw off Pembroke Wanderers 3-0 to keep their EY Hockey League title challenge alive.

Graham Shaw has his sights set on World Cup qualification after his Ireland side cruised to a World League 2 title in Kuala Lumpur.

Banbridge’s reign as Irish Senior Cup holders came to an abrupt end while there were also big successes for non-EY Hockey League sides on a turbulent cup weekend.

It was the first penalty miss of young Adam O’Reilly’s schoolboy soccer career, but it has gained him widespread acclaim.

Cork Church of Ireland’s men and Cork Harlequins’ women both got their Irish Hockey League campaigns back on track with vital wins on Saturday.

Bandon’s incredible recovery at Belfast Harlequins in the women’s Irish Junior Cup highlighted a busy weekend of cup shocks.

Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins were the biggest winners on a productive Irish Junior Cup weekend for Munster teams.

The demise of Cork Harlequins as a national force was ruthlessly exposed by Banbridge on Saturday, as they claimed a facile 8-0 Irish Senior Cup first round win at Farmer’s Cross.

Andy Ewington’s remarkable short corner prowess helped Monkstown end 99 years of hurt with a rip-roaring 5-4 Irish Senior Cup victory over Pembroke Wanderers at Belfield yesterday.

The dearth of top-class umpires in Munster finally reared its head as a Division One men’s game was unable to be played due to the absence of sufficiently experienced officials.

At the headiest of times for Irish hockey, the agony and ecstasy of the national sides chasing their Olympic dreams was put harrowingly into perspective this week.

CORK Church of Ireland came up short in their attempts to honour tragic former player/coach Andrew Chambers with an Irish Senior Cup win, going down 4-2 at home to Lisnagarvey.

IT was a profitable trip south for UCD on Saturday, as their men and women came away with big wins from Bandon and Cork Harlequins respectively to advance in the Irish Senior Cup.

AS shocks in Munster women’s hockey go, this was more full-blown earthquake than minor tremor.

OPPORTUNITY knocks for Bandon and UCC as they bid to bolster Munster’s Irish Hockey League (IHL) representation next season by succeeding at this weekend’s wildcard playoffs at Garryduff in Cork.

THE Garryduff trophy cabinet is bulging under some strain this morning after Cork Church of Ireland amazingly claimed victory in four men’s cup finals in less than 48 hours.

LIMERICK proved a happy hunting ground for Lurgan College once more as they claimed overall victory on a remarkable final day of the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships at Crescent College Comprehensive.

UNIVERSITY College Cork will contest their first ever national senior final after coming from behind to see off Clontarf 2-1 in a fraught Irish Hockey Trophy semi-final at the Mardyke on Saturday.

CORK C of I and Cork Harlequins all but kissed goodbye to any lingering hopes they might mount a challenge for a men’s Irish Hockey League semi-final spot, after suffering heavy defeats at home to Dublin opposition on Saturday.

JOHN JERMYN has returned to the international fold ahead of Ireland’s series of friendlies against the Netherlands in Seville, but there is still no sign of his Cork C of I club-mate David Hobbs in the squad.

THE fight to lay claim to some of the oldest silverware in world hockey begins this weekend, as the men’s and women’s Irish Senior Cup gets underway.

A BLEAK weekend for Munster hockey saw all five of its representatives soundly beaten during the opening round of the Irish Hockey League.

CORK HARLEQUINS are sweating on the availability of a number of key players ahead of tomorrow’s women’s Munster Senior League Division One title playoff against UCC at Garryduff (4.30pm).

CORK Church of Ireland know nothing but victory at home to Ulster kingpins Cookstown tomorrow will do to keep their hopes of reaching the Irish Hockey League semi-finals alive.

CORK HARLEQUINS and UCC will reprise their rivalry for the first time this season tomorrow at Harlequin Park (2pm), with a women’s Munster Senior Cup final berth the reward for the victor.

EIMEAR CREGAN has revealed that the pressure of combining full-time work and training programmes with a thrice-weekly commute to Cork was behind her decision to sign for Catholic Institute.

AIB LEAGUE RESULTS

CORK HARLEQUINS will be keen to prove they are not a national force on the wane by making life difficult for holders Pembroke Wanderers as the second round of the men’s Irish Hockey League swings into action tomorrow.

CORK’S big two meet for the second time in a fortnight this weekend, with Cork Harlequins hoping home advantage can help swing things their way in their Peard Cup semi-final clash with Cork C of I at Harlequin Park tomorrow (12pm).

UCC will bid to put off-field distractions behind them tomorrow when they lock horns with Belfast giants Pegasus in a game that has all the makings of a six-pointer in Pool B of the women’s Irish Hockey League.

THE opening weekend of this season’s women’s ESB Irish Hockey League will have a distinctly local flavour to it on Leeside, where perennial rivals Cork Harlequins and Cork Church of Ireland will lock horns in Pool A tomorrow (Harlequin Park, 2pm).

PEMBROKE WANDERERS coach Craig Fulton has been forced to name three goalkeepers in his squad as the national champions get their EuroHockey League campaign underway in Barcelona tonight.

MISMATCHES were the order of the opening day of the hockey season in Munster, with the province’s heavy hitters all recording big wins on Saturday.

BANDON pulled off the shock result of the hockey season sofar as they downed Cork Harlequins 1-0 to advance to the women’s Munster Senior Cup final.

CORK HARLEQUINS’ ambitions on the national stage will be severely tested tomorrow when they face Ulster powerhouses Banbridge in a re-fixed Irish Senior Cup second round clash at Harlequin Park (2pm).

OLD FRIENDS will meet up on and off the pitch at Garryduff this weekend as the heavyweights of Cork Church of Ireland and Pembroke Wanderers fight to stay in the men’s Irish Senior Cup.

All the results from today's AIB League action.

Uncapped players Louise Henderson, Zanya Dahl, Sinead Dooley and Katherine Elkins have all been named in Ireland’s squad which will begin preparations for the World Cup qualifying competition in Rome next April.

LAST WEEK’S fine victory at the Tri-Nations men’s hockey tournament in Cork proved to Ireland coach Dave Passmore that the Irish team has great potential as it continues its preparation for the European Nations Trophy in Rome from September 11-17.

IRISH coach David Scott has to plan without his U-21 talent, but will welcome the return of five experienced internationals for a three-game series with Belgium in Brussels later this month.

CORK HARLEQUINS’ reign as All- Ireland club champions came to an end at Lough Moss Leisure Centre on Saturday, when they were beaten 4-2 by Ulster Senior League winners Annadale (6-3 on aggregate).