The ever-growing gap between the EY Hockey League and the provincial leagues was evident as big scorelines littered the women’s Irish Senior Cup first round on Saturday.

Banbridge’s reign as Irish Senior Cup holders came to an abrupt end while there were also big successes for non-EY Hockey League sides on a turbulent cup weekend.

 

Ireland proved far too strong for Turkey to complete their World League 2 pool games with a huge 13-0 win, with Clare woman Naomi Carroll netting four times at Belfield.

Hermes’ greater chance-taking ability left Cork Harlequins gutted, as they fell to a 3-0 Irish Senior Cup semi-final defeat on Saturday.

Hockey

Cork Church of Ireland 4 Bandon 1

Hockey: An interprovincial campaign that started with some promise ultimately unravelled for Munster’s U16 and U18 teams, who finished without a point to their name.

Hockey: The Irish Junior Cup draw has been kind to Munster teams with seven home draws out of a possible eight raising hopes that many can advance.

Peter Caruth proved his worth to Monkstown as his goals fired them to another Irish Hockey League success at Havelock Park yesterday.

Saturday will likely be remembered as the day Munster’s hopes of producing an Irish Hockey League finalist died, with all four teams suffering defeat.

This afternoon, Ireland’s elite hockey players will traverse the country and wonder: could I do this every other weekend?

Cork C of I 3 UCC 3 (C of I win 5-4 on penalties after aet)

It wasn’t a game for the ages but UCC won’t care as they finally broke their duck against Cork Harlequins by grinding out a 2-1 Peard Cup semi-final win at Farmer’s Cross on Saturday.

If there was any doubt that Cork Harlequins’ time as top dogs in Munster is over for the time being, Saturday’s Munster Senior Cup final provided it.

They say you don’t win trophies at Christmas but you do in Munster hockey — and Cork C of I will be hoping a third straight Peard Cup success is the start of bigger and better things to come for them.

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.

Ireland were left thankful for what one wag termed “The 50 Saves of Gray” as they claimed a brilliant bronze at the Champions Challenge I tournament in Dublin yesterday.

It’s been a fallow few seasons for Cork Harlequins in national competitions, but they continued to roll back the years in stunning style on Saturday to see off Banbridge 2-1 and progress to the Irish Senior Cup semi-finals.

They didn’t make the Irish Hockey League semi-finals, but Catholic Institute took plenty of personal satisfaction in a 3-2 defeat of UCD which also ruined the students’ title hopes at Rosbrien on Saturday.

Three Rock Rovers’ Turkish travails ended on a high yesterday after they earned promotion for Ireland back to European indoor hockey’s third tier.

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.

LIMERICK schoolgirl Eimear Ryan notched her first hat-trick in senior club hockey as her Catholic Institute side stunned Cork Church of Ireland in a 12-0 Munster league rout at Rosbrien on Saturday.

CORK HARLEQUINS raided the Mardyke twice in 24 hours to end the cup dreams of UCC’s men and women on a memorable weekend for the Farmer’s Cross club.

MELVIN BEAMISH’S quick hands earned Bandon a famous 3-2 Irish Junior Cup victory over Cork Harlequins on Saturday.

MONKSTOWN’S wait for a men’s Irish Senior Cup title will stretch into a 98th year after they were beaten 4-3 by Cookstown in a stunning final at Belfield yesterday.

CORK HARLEQUINS were left cursing themselves for going to sleep at the start of extra-time, allowing Cork Church of Ireland to plunder a golden-goal victory in Saturday’s Munster Senior Cup semi-final at Farmer’s Cross.

WHAT has become an enduring rivalry between UCC and Catholic Institute will take another twist tomorrow when the sides meet at Rosbrien (12.30pm).

Ulster put themselves in a strong position to win the U16 schoolboys interprovincial hockey title when they won their two matches on the opening day of the championship at Cork Harlequins’ Club in Farmers Cross.

ULSTER were crowned Men’s Senior Hockey Interprovincial winners yesterday following a 3-3 draw with host province Munster, with the issue being decided in the last game of the weekend at Harlequin Park.