Ahead of their historic World Cup finals weekend, Stephen Findlater looked at some things you may not know about our hockey heroes.

Megan Frazer has been included in Graham Shaw’s squad of 18 players for next month’s World Cup in London despite concerns over her fitness.

Following the cancellation of the Irish women’s series against Scotland in midweek, Cork Harlequins hope to have a quintet of internationals back for the visit of Hermes-Monkstown in the EY Hockey League.

When Des Cahill called on potential benefactors to “#coughup”, circling the Green Army’s “actively seeking sponsorship” biography line, it gave the sport one of its rare moments in the spotlight.

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.

With the détente between the Irish Hockey Umpires Association and Hockey Ireland in place, the EY Hockey League will tip off this weekend after two weeks of cancellations.

Emma Buckley looks set to continue a trend of young Ireland senior debutants as the Mount Mercy College student is poised to win her first cap next week.

The second season of the EY Hockey League gets underway this weekend and 11 Olympians will feature, fresh from their Rio 2016 campaign.

Hermes were the weekend’s big movers in the women’s EY Hockey League with impressive wins over challengers Ulster Elks and Cork Harlequins.

Cork Church of Ireland were left wondering what might have been after being pegged back from winning positions against powerhouses Monkstown and Banbridge in the EY Hockey League this weekend.

After the utter devastation of a shoot-out loss to China in what was a direct Olympic qualifier, Darren Smith has the unenviable task of picking up his players to go again for another huge match on Saturday in Valencia.

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

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.

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.

LOSING to your little brother in the back garden is bad enough, but doing so in an Irish Hockey League semi-final “just can’t happen” according to Jason Lynch.

CATHOLIC INSTITUTE threw a major spanner in the works in the race for semi-final spots in the women’s Irish Hockey League by stunning Loreto 2-1 at Rosbrien on Saturday.

PEGASUS’ love affair with the women’s ESB Irish Senior Cup continued as they moved ominously into the quarter-finals after seeing off Loreto 2-0 at Queens University on Saturday.

THREE ROCK ROVERS sprung a South African surprise on Cork Church of Ireland on Saturday, as Jody Hosking’s double helped them to a noteworthy 2-1 Irish Junior Cup round one win at Garryduff.

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.

TRINITY College Dublin hope their Dutch wildcard inspires them to victory as the most open intervarsity tournament in recent years begins in UCD on Sunday.

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

EACH of Munster’s three representatives in the women’s Irish Hockey League will be seeking capital gains this weekend as all face tricky trips to Dublin for the second round of the competition – where they will renew acquaintances with former team-mates.

THE focus turns to interprovincial action a little earlier in the season than usual this weekend as the U16 and U18 boys and girls pit their wits against each other at Grange Road and UCD.

IRELAND’S hopes of becoming the first winners of the Champions Challenge II on home soil were left in tatters last night as Poland claimed a final victory on penalty strokes at Belfield last night.

IRISH hockey’s unsung heroes are set to take centre stage at the ESB Irish Hockey Awards next month.

IRELAND hockey coaches Gene Muller and Dave Passmore insist there are positives to be taken from the Setanta Sports Trophy despite seeing their sides finish bottom of the pile yesterday.