Hannah Humphreys enhanced her burgeoning reputation with a vital penalty stroke save to send her Ashton side through to the second round of the Irish Junior Cup on Saturday.

Hockey: The Irish Junior Cup draw has been kind to Munster teams with seven home draws out of a possible eight raising hopes that many can advance.

A first home draw in a decade has UCC’s men hoping they can finally make waves in the Irish Junior Cup.

Antrim 3-18 Wexford 2-15

CORK Church of Ireland’s youngsters stepped up to the mark in style as they guided the Munster champions to a 4-1 win over Bandon yesterday.

COOKSTOWN pulled off the shock of the first round of the men’s Irish Senior Cup on Saturday, dumping 2009 champions Pembroke Wanderers out with a 2-0 win at Coolnafranky.

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.

FIVE teams are in contention for two semi-final berths as the pool stages of the women’s Irish Hockey League come to an intriguing conclusion on Sunday.

STEPHEN SWEETNAM’S short corner prowess proved the difference as UCC recorded a valuable 2-1 Munster league win over Catholic Institute at Rosbrien on Saturday.

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.

CORK HARLEQUINS andUCC got their ESB Irish Hockey League campaigns off to the perfect start as both picked up bonus-point wins on Saturday to lead the way after round one.

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 were given a stern test by Cork Harlequins in the opening round of the Irish Hockey League at Serpentine Avenue yesterday, but Alan Sothern’s second-half strike gave the hosts a 2-1 win and all three points.

IRELAND’S hockey clubs have provisionally approved the draw and structure for next year’s inaugural All-Ireland League (AIL).

IRISH women’s hockey coach Gene Muller yesterday announced his squad to face Scotland in a three match series in UCD at the weekend.

WITH the majority of his international squad in action, Irish senior women’s coach Gene Muller is expecting this weekend’s ESB Club Championships to throw up some seriously competitive hockey.

HERMES will face Pegasus in the ESB Women’s Club Championship final at Belfield next weekend.

SINCE their departure from the Irish Senior Cup at the hands of Pembroke Wanderers back in January, Cork Harlequins have had only one aim in mind and that has been this weekend’s ESB Women’s Club Championships at Belfield.

THE Irish Hockey Association has appointed Paul Varian to the permanent position of Chief Executive.

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.

The Ireland women’s team travel to Germany for a four-nation tournament next week as they prepare to host the European Championship in August.

Ireland’s senior women’s hockey team begin their KT Cup campaign in Korea tomorrow with one eye on the European Nations Championship in Dublin from August 14-20.

LISNAGARVEY are kings of Irish club hockey after yesterday completing a club championship and cup double.

NIGEL BUTTIMER has announced his retirement from international hockey at the age of 28.

Ireland women’s coach Riet Kuper has omitted three experienced internationals from her training squad, which travels to Spain next month, in order to give younger players a chance.

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.

A 37-year-old father of three who died suddenly after a rugby game over the bank holiday weekend will be buried today. John Byrne from Troyswood, Kilkenny, collapsed and died minutes after playing a game with his 18-year-old son, Richard.

THE second legs of the All-Ireland Womens’ Club Hockey Championships take place over the weekend and Munster sides Harlequins and Bandon face difficult ties.

IRISH ladies hockey coach Riet Kuper has named a squad of 20 to travel to America next month as preparations intensify ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Auckland from March 19-28.

Five uncapped players have been named in the Irish women’s hockey squad to play three Test matches in the USA next month.

Ireland’s women have named the pool of players who will contest selection for September’s European Nations Cup in Barcelona.