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.

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

Irish senior women’s coach Darren Smith says he is willing to support high performance hockey in Munster — but that the drive must come from within the province.

Some of Ireland’s most established international hockey players were left reeling yesterday after being dumped from Darren Smith’s squad ahead of August’s European championships.

Cork Church of Ireland gave UCC a lesson in clinical finishing as their 3-1 win at the Mardyke all but extinguished the students’ flickering title hopes.

Cork Church of Ireland’s miserable recent Irish Senior Cup record doesn’t look any better today as they recover from a shock 4-1 loss away to Kilkeel.

Artisan food and drink producers will join caterers and food retail service companies to pitch their wares at this year’s Shop trade exhibitions at the RDS Simmonscourt, from Sept 25 to 27.

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.

John Jermyn faces into a crucial week in his race to be fit for Ireland’s Olympic qualification tournament in Dublin next month.

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.

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.

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.

OPPORTUNITY knocks for Bandon and UCC as they bid to bolster Munster’s Irish Hockey League (IHL) representation next season by succeeding at this weekend’s wildcard playoffs at Garryduff in Cork.

ULSTER man Chris Cargo made his mark on European club hockey’s biggest stage with a stunning two-goal salvo to help Reading into the last eight of the Euro Hockey League in Bloemendaal, Holland on Saturday.

THE semi-final picture should become clearer in the Irish Hockey League as a number of interprovincial rivalries are reprised this weekend.

CORK Church of Ireland are determined to honour their tragic late player/coach Andy Chambers by doing the business on the pitch in their re-fixed Irish Senior Cup clash with Kilkeel at Garryduff tomorrow (2pm).

CATHOLIC INSTITUTE can take a giant step towards breaking Cork Harlequins’ Munster women’s league hegemony if they defeat UCC at Rosbrien tomorrow (1pm).

ALL five of Munster’s Irish Hockey League representatives need to collect points this weekend, if they are to harbour realistic semi-final ambitions.

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.

STUDENTS at UCC have created a range of innovative food products. The products include Mílóir, a new spread that combines honey and cream cheese that can be used for dinner, lunch, snacking or as a dip.

CORK HARLEQUINS and UCC will reprise their rivalry for the first time this season tomorrow at Harlequin Park (2pm), with a women’s Munster Senior Cup final berth the reward for the victor.

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).

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.

THE combined division one and two cup in women’s hockey saw eight games being played between Saturday and yesterday and for UCC it was a bad weekend, with all three of their sides in action crashing out.

Mount Mercy College 2 Ashton School 0

CAROL HICKEY’S golden goal earned Crescent College Comprehensive a historic victory in the Munster Schoolgirls Senior Hockey Cup final at Garryduff yesterday.