Greenfields made UCC sweat but the students hung on to win 2-1 and give their EY Hockey League survival hopes a significant boost at the Mardyke on Saturday.

John Jermyn’s second successive hat-trick has Cork C of I mixing it with the big guns in the EY Hockey League after they scalped Glenanne 4-2 in Tallaght.

Hockey: Cork Harlequins and UCC both require victories over Leinster opposition tomorrow to keep alive their slim hopes of making the last four of the Irish Hockey League.

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.

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.

Munster may not have had a team at the business end of the Irish Hockey League but some of the province’s exiles made key contributions to a dramatic finals weekend at Comber Road in Lisburn.

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.

CATHOLIC INSTITUTE and UCC gave their supporters numerous nervy moments before prevailing in dramatic circumstances to advance to the last 16 of the men’s Irish Hockey Trophy.

RAILWAY UNION’S Julia O’Halloran will seek to plot the demise of some old friends as she welcomes her former UCC colleagues to Park Avenue for a refixed Irish Hockey League clash tomorrow (5pm).

OPPORTUNITY knocks for two of UCD’s leading lights as Ireland senior women’s coach Gene Muller has opted to shake things up for his side’s trip to Argentina next month.

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.

IRELAND’S senior women begin a hectic summer schedule in Scotland over the June Bank Holiday Weekend, as they bid to annex the Celtic Cup for the first time since 2006.

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.

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.

SCOTLAND struck late in each half to compound Ireland’s woes at the World Cup qualifiers in Santiago, Chile as a lack of killer instinct either end put paid to any remote chance of reaching the second biggest competition in the game.

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.

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.

IRELAND’S top women’s hockey players could be in line for a centralisation move that would see them based full-time in Dublin this September, it emerged yesterday.

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.

FOUR uncapped players have been included in the Ireland women’straining squad as they begin their build-up to next April’s World Cup qualifier in Chile.

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.

UCC finally carried off the silverware that their resurgence in recent years has warranted, denying Bandon another famous scalp in the women’s Munster Senior Cup final at Garryduff yesterday.

MUNSTER stole an early march at the senior women’s hockey interprovincials, defeating Connacht 3-1 at Garryduff in Cork last night after Leinster and Ulster had blinked first earlier in the day.

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.

NEW Ireland senior men’s hockey coach Paul Revington gets his first chance to see his new charges in action later this month as Scotland arrive for a three-game series.

IRELAND senior men’s interim coach Dave Passmore believes the young players in his squad will be in for a serious test as they take on Argentina in the first of an international double-header at Belfield tonight (7.30pm).

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

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.

THE quarter-finals of the ESB Irish Senior Women’s Cup this weekend sees all the top sides in the country in action, but both Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins facing extremely difficult away games.

CORK Harlequins and Church of Ireland both qualified for the quarter-finals of the ESB Irish Senior Women’s Cup after extra-time scares against Loreto and Ards respectively on Saturday, but both landed extremely tough away games in the quarter finals.

THE Cork Church of Ireland women’s team face a long journey north for the second year in a row in this weekend’s ESB Senior Cup, but coach Phil Oakley reckons that the prize of a quarter-final place will be motivation enough for his side.

CORK Church of Ireland’s John Jermyn has been named men’s hockey player of the year.

TODAY, the Irish Examiner unveils a new generation of Irish sporting stars. Remember their names - the chances are if you haven’t already heard of them, you will before too long.

CORK HARLEQUINS’ Irish international goalie Mary Goode will face her former team-mates at Pembroke Wanderers today when the two sides meet in the ESB Irish Senior Cup at Serpentine Avenue (hit-off 3pm).

Barry Coughlan

SHELL-SHOCKED is the only way to describe Harlequins women’s hockey side at the end of their All-Ireland Club Championship qualifier on Saturday.

HOLDERS Crescent Comprehensive take on Mount Mercy in a repeat of last year’s decider in the Coca-Cola Munster schoolgirls senior hockey cup final at Villiers School, Limerick today (2pm).

CORK clubs Ashton and Harlequins had to endure the agony of penalty stroke shoots out on Saturday before advancing to the next round of the Odlums sponsored Women’s Irish Junior Hockey Cup.