Harlequins bid to keep last four hopes alive against Annadale
Both the men’s and women’s teams of Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins have home comforts tomorrow against Leinster and Ulster opposition.
The pick of the ties is sure to be the Pool A meeting of Quins’ men and Annadale, given that Stephen Dale’s side must take at least three points from the tie to keep their hopes of making the last four alive.
They will be buoyed by last weekend’s golden goal Irish Senior Cup win at Instonians, and have all of their big guns available, but Eddie Dore is out injured and will be replaced in the squad by Colin Ross.
Quins host UCD in the women’s Pool B, with both coming off the back of contrasting fortunes in the ISC last weekend. The students upset Hermes on penalty strokes and re-ignited their league campaign with a defeat of Pembroke, while Quins succumbed 6-3 at Ballymoney.
The Farmers Cross girls will have a job on their hands to shackle the students’ Irish international forward duo of Róisín Flinn and Lisa Jacob, while Cliona O’Connor is unavailable, depriving Quins of one of their own striking talents.
Over at Garryduff, Cork C of I face a tough tie against Loreto as they look to bounce back from their 5-1 mauling at the hands of Belfast Harlequins in Pool A.
The Beaufort side are backboned by five Irish internationals, and they lead the group by virtue of hugely impressive wins over Belfast Quins and Pegasus.
C of I’s task is made all the more difficult by the absence of skipper Sandra Hackett, out for the season after tearing her cruciate ligament, with Deirdre Casey — already a talismanic figure for the Cork girls — taking over the captain’s armband.
The Rochestown side’s men host Monkstown in a tie that is set to yield plenty of goals, given both sides have been prolific up front but occasionally lax defensively in recent weeks.
The ‘Town have a real gem in roaming teenage forward Stephen Cole, but C of I will be confident on home turf having seemingly relieved drag-flicker John Jermyn of the goalscoring burden in recent games.
Elsewhere, the pick of the men’s ties is the top-of-the-table clash in Pool A of Glenanne and Instonians, while third-placed Pembroke Wanderers head to Tyrone to face Cookstown.
In Pool B, Three Rock Rovers journey out of Dublin for the fourth weekend running to play Lisnagarvey. The sides produced an 11-goal thriller when they met in last year’s Club Championships semi-final, and Rovers will be hoping for another virtuoso performance from Mitch Darling, who hit five of his side’s goals in that 6-5 victory.
Ousiders Fingal host table-toppers Banbridge in the pool’s other game, where the sand at the ALSAA venue is likely to level the odds, as Three Rock found to their cost when they were downed 2-0 there in round two.
Pegasus get the weekend underway tonight when they meet Randalstown, and the experienced Belfast girls will be hot favourites based on their 5-1 league win earlier this term.
Railway Union clash with Belfast Harlequins for the first time ever, with Mick McKinnon’s side keen to build on the momentum generated by last weekend’s 3-0 ISC victory at UCC.
In Pool B, Hermes are at home for the first time in the competition against Pembroke Wanderers, and Ballymoney tackle the young guns of Armagh.
Meanwhile, Amy Kate Trevor’s extra-time goal helped Scoil Mhuire advance to the semi-finals of the Munster Schoolgirls Senior Cup at the expense of holders Laurel Hill at the Mardyke yesterday.
Following Coláiste na Toirbhirte Bandon’s shock defeat of last year’s finalists Mount Mercy earlier in the week, Trevor buried a short corner switch with four minutes of the extra to go to give her side a 2-1 win, after Lauragh O’Neill’s penalty stroke was cancelled out by Laurel Hill’s Sorcha Carey.
Elsewhere, the men’s indoor Tony Byrne Cup gets underway at the National Basketball Arena on Sunday, with 10 Leinster sides battling for the right to represent Ireland in the 2010 European Club Championships.
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