Hockey: Cork Harlequins are a step away from being back in the big time after ousting Pegasus 2-1 in the Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.

Cork Harlequins’ hopes of making the Irish Hockey League semi-finals are hanging by a thread after a 3-1 defeat to Ards.

Holland’s ‘Mr Backhand’ lived up to his name to break Irish hearts as the world number three side snatched a late 2-1 TriFinance EuroHockey Nations Championships win over the green machine in Boom, Belgium 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.

Ireland’s Champions Challenge I campaign is up and running but not without some controversy as Belfield witnessed plenty of drama yesterday.

Gene Muller didn’t stay around long enough to survey the damage after Ireland’s Olympic qualification near miss, after yesterday announcing he has stepped down from the post of senior women’s coach.

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.

Gene Muller hailed Ireland’s women’s win over Spain yesterday in Kontich, Belgium as the “biggest result” of his tenure as his side now look forward to a play-off on Sunday for an Olympic berth.

Ireland's women survived an early fright to get their Athlon FIH Road to London campaign underway with a 5-1 win over France in Beerschot, Belgium today.

With the hockey community glued to events at UCD, the Irish women have snuck in under the radar as they begin their Athlon FIH Road to London campaign in Belgium against France at Beerschot today (12.30pm Irish time).

There were few surprises as Ireland’s coaches revealed their hands for this month’s Olympic qualifiers, but fitness concerns could give Paul Revington and Gene Muller sleepless nights yet.

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.

CORK’S Julia O’Halloran is the big absentee from Gene Muller’s latest Irish centralised training panel announced yesterday.

IRELAND showed more of their attacking hand but were left undone by world number one Argentina’s overall class as Carla Rebecchi inspired a 4-1 victory at Belfield last night.

CELTIC CUP glory continues to elude Ireland’s senior women, but coach Gene Muller nonetheless has plenty of positives to take from his side’s first tournament of 2011.

Knee problems forced Ireland’s most capped hockey player out of the international game, but Eimear Cregan told Alan Good the future of the sport is bright.

ALEX SPEERS has set her sights on becoming the first skipper to lead the Irish women’s hockey team to the Olympics, after she was named as the senior side’s new captain this week.

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.

IRELAND’S senior women’s squad touched down in Nice, France yesterday ahead of this weekend’s Celtic Cup tournament, knowing many are in the last-chance saloon as they bid to secure a place in the squad for next month’s World Cup qualifier in Chile.

A PLAYER eligibility issue involving defending Irish Senior Cup champions Pembroke Wanderers threatens to overshadow the Dubliners’ quest to retain the trophy when they lock horns with Cookstown at Belfield on Sunday (1.15).

IRELAND earned the bronze medal and some consolation for their failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics with a 2-1 win over Canada at the University of Victoria yesterday.

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 Women's Hockey team drew 0-0 with Azerbaijan today, (2.45pm Irish time), in their final pool match, their third in as many days, at the World Cup Qualifying tournament in Rome.