While Cork C of I are the only Munster side in the men’s EY Hockey League, the Garryduff outfit view tomorrow’s game with Dublin’s Pembroke (Garryduff, 2.30pm) as their main derby for the season.

Cork Harlequins ended UCD’s incredible 20-game unbeaten run in Belfield as Roisin Upton and Naomi Carroll struck for an excellent 2-1 win to open up the delayed women’s EY Hockey League.

Irish hockey had a Saturday to savour as the men guaranteed their place at the 2018 World Cup while the women have to wait a few months but look well set to match their efforts.

Kinsale’s Conor Harte has overcome a knock to take up a place in the Irish men’s squad for next month’s World League semi-final tournament in Johannesburg, the main qualifier for the 2018 World Cup.

It was moving day at both ends of the men’s EY Hockey League with a slew of surprise results on Saturday.

Cork Harlequins, despite playing two games in just over 24 hours, advanced to the Irish Senior Cup final for the first time in 15 years.

The waiting game begins for Ireland after they concluded their best ever year in international hockey with a remarkable Unibet EuroHockey Championship bronze medal on Saturday.

Hockey: Ireland 4 Malaysia 1

Ireland 1 Pakistan 0: Alan Sothern’s 46th-minute goal moved Ireland within touching distance of Olympic qualification as they saw off Pakistan 1-0 yesterday in Antwerp.

Ireland’s men made a huge statement as they began their Olympic qualification campaign with an 8-0 rout of Chile at the World League 2 in San Diego.

Hockey: Munster’s U-16s produced a memorable performance to get their schoolgirls interprovincial championship off to a flying start as they beat Ulster for the first time in a decade.

Ireland pushed world number five England hard, but ultimately fell in a shoot-out after drawing yesterday’s men’s Investec Cup final 2-2 in London.

Ireland coach Craig Fulton will be taking on some familiar faces this afternoon as his men’s senior team play South Africa on day one of the London Cup.

It was a memorable afternoon for Irish hockey as both national sides produced quarter-final victories at the Champions Challenge I in Malaysia and Scotland yesterday.

HOCKEY: Alan Sothern and David Harte were Ireland’s heroes as they notched a first win for new coach Craig Fulton in Kuantan yesterday, seeing off Japan 1-0 in the Champions Challenge I.

Cork Harlequins’ quest to win the Energiecomfort EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy in Vienna started badly with a 4-3 defeat to Italian champions HC Bra yesterday.

Julia O’Halloran made the crucial Irish Hockey League final intervention for Railway Union for the second year running as they saw off Loreto on sudden death penalties on a topsy-turvy finals day at Grange Road.

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.

THEY may have restored some Munster pride on the national stage, but Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins will nonetheless be wondering how they left two-goal leads slip in their 2-2 Irish Hockey League draws with Pembroke Wanderers and Glenanne respectively.

MIRIAM CROWLEY has been handed a chance to prove her international credentials at the highest level, after she was the bolter named in Gene Muller’s squad for the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Moenchengladbach, Germany later this month.

PAUL REVINGTON refuses to let his Ireland senior men’s side rest on their laurels despite watching them complete a remarkable underdog victory at the INSEP Five Nations in Paris yesterday.

IRELAND’S tournament hoodoo against France almost resurfaced before Eugene Magee saved the day with the last touch of the match in a 2-2 Champions Challenge II draw in Lille yesterday.

JEAN MCDONNELL has been handed the chance to prove her Irish international credentials after she was named in an 18-strong squad for next week’s FIH Champions Challenge I in Dublin.

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 odds mightn’t favour them, but Ireland’s senior men are determined to make the most of an opportunity to qualify for a major tournament for the first time over the coming eight days.

JASON LYNCH faces the novel prospect of lining out against former colleagues on his old stomping ground for the second time in a week, as he prepares to don the colours of Ulster at the senior hockey interprovincials at Garryduff in Cork this weekend.

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.

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.

AFTER a season which promised so much for Cork Harlequins, the club finished up with nothing to show from a year’s strenuous endeavour.

THE Irish men’s international hockey season has a tough opening weekend with three tests against Scotland at Instonians’ newly laid water-based pitch in Belfast.