Cork C of I face ‘tough’ Cup test in Ballymoney

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.

Church of Ireland have to travel north to face Ballymoney, who won the cup as recently as 2001 and coach Philip Oakley reckons their second successive cup clash with northern opposition will present a very difficult challenge.

“We beat Ards away in the last round,” he said, “but this represents a much tougher physical contest than that because Ballymoney are a much more experienced side and they will be much harder to break down.”