Karen Bateman’s brace ended Catholic Institute’s hopes of another Munster Senior Cup final upset as she guided Cork Harlequins to a 2-1 success at Garryduff yesterday.

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.

Cork Harlequins are sniffing a return to the glory days as they welcome Hermes to Harlequin Park for tomorrow’s Irish Senior Cup semi-final showdown.

Hockey: Bandon’s Irish Junior Cup love affair continues after the Desmond sisters gave them a hard-fought 2-0 quarter-final win over local rivals Cork Church of Ireland.

Hockey: Three Rock Rovers are the first side to book their place in the men’s Irish Hockey League semis after a Jonny Bruton-inspired win at Lisnagarvey. 

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.

Cork Church of Ireland coach Eddie Kirwan says it gave him no joy to watch his side hand out a crushing 28-0 Munster Division One defeat to University of Limerick on Saturday.

Irish hockey will expand to include a full national league next season after a drawn-out debate was finally settled yesterday.

Cork Harlequins claimed their 17th women’s Munster Senior League title in 19 seasons with a comprehensive 4-0 dismantling of Catholic Institute at Rosbrien yesterday.

Cork Harlequins hope Rachael Kohler and Karen Bateman can continue to defy Father Time as they face a make-or-break Irish Hockey League clash with Ards at Farmer’s Cross tomorrow (1.30pm).

Cork Harlequins and Fermoy both made big moves at opposite ends of the table to set up a grandstand finale to the Munster women’s Division 1.

Something must give at the summit of Munster’s Division 1 over the coming weeks, beginning with Catholic Institute’s visit to Cork Harlequins tomorrow (3.30pm).

Bandon’s incredible recovery at Belfast Harlequins in the women’s Irish Junior Cup highlighted a busy weekend of cup shocks.

Róisín Upton gave Catholic Institute the perfect goodbye present as she nicked the winner in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Cork C of I.

Catholic Institute roared back into Munster title contention as two stunning goals helped them see off UCC 2-0 at Rosbrien on Saturday.

Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins were the biggest winners on a productive Irish Junior Cup weekend for Munster teams.

Bandon are facing up to a potentially tough transitional period as the Munster senior hockey leagues get underway for the 2012/13 season this weekend.

Brothers Andrew and Roger Gray once again saved their best for Belfield as UCC won their first ever national senior club title in men’s hockey with a rousing 3-1 Irish Hockey Trophy final victory over Raphoe yesterday.

UCC continued their habit of doing things the hard way but eventually progressed to a second successive Irish Hockey Trophy final with a 3-2 win over South Antrim at the Mardyke on Saturday.

Cork Church of Ireland blew a superb chance to dump holders Lisnagarvey out of the Irish Junior Cup as the northerners snuck a 4-3 quarter-final win with a golden goal at Garryduff on Saturday.

Motivation won’t be lacking for UCC as they pitch up at Garryduff tonight looking to rattle Cork Church of Ireland’s cage (8pm).

They say you don’t win titles at Christmas — but if you’re Catholic Institute, you can certainly win them in January.

CORK’S finest are running out of time to catch Catholic Institute, after the Limerick side showed off their clinical short corner conversion ability with a 5-1 win over UCC at The Mardyke on Saturday.

BANDON will look to be the fly in Cork Harlequins’ ointment in a clash that is likely to end the losers’ faint title hopes at Harlequin Park tomorrow (12pm).

CORK CHURCH of Ireland were left to rue a couple of early defensive howlers as their title ambitions were taken out of their hands by Cork Harlequins on Saturday.

CLIODHNA SARGENT could be set to get an early Christmas present this weekend — her 100th Irish senior cap.

CORK Church of Ireland will look to a clutch of youngsters to help in their bid to reclaim the men’s Irish Junior Cup when they welcome Mossley to Garryduff tomorrow (2pm).

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.

LIMERICK proved a happy hunting ground for Lurgan College once more as they claimed overall victory on a remarkable final day of the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships at Crescent College Comprehensive.

CATHOLIC INSTITUTE’S women laid down an early marker by thrashing Cork Church of Ireland 5-0 at Garryduff on Saturday, the opening day of the season in Munster.

THERE was no fairytale ending for Catholic Institute’s Eimear Cregan as her former club Cork Harlequins gave a lesson in finishing to reclaim the women’s Munster Senior Cup at Rosbrien yesterday.

CATHOLIC INSTITUTE will be keen to mark their centenary year in style as their men’s and women’s teams both contest the Munster Senior Cup finals on home turf at Rosbrien, Limerick today.

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.

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.

CORK HARLEQUINS will seek to keep their 100% start to the season intact when they welcome Old Alex to Harlequin Park in the second round of the women’s ESB Irish Senior Cup tomorrow (1pm).

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).

KAREN BATEMAN’S inspirational performances in turning back the clock to help Cork Harlequins retain their Munster league title will be among 31 outstanding contributions recognised at the Munster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association (MBIHA) Awards 2007-2009, to be held in the Fred South Room at Garryduff this evening (7.30pm).

IRISH international captain Eimear Cregan made a goalscoring return to the colours of Cork Harlequins as they moved into pole position to close on a 14th consecutive women’s Munster Senior League title with a 3-2 win over Cork C of I at Garryduff on Saturday.

TREBLE-CHASING Railway Union will hope to put one foot in the semi-finals of the Irish Hockey League tomorrow as they take on Cork Church of Ireland at Garryduff (2pm).

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.

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