Pembroke and Glenanne set for showdown

ANOTHER chapter in Irish hockey’s most enduring club rivalry will be written this weekend when Dublin powerhouses Pembroke Wanderers and Glenanne lock horns in round two of the men’s Irish Senior Cup at Serpentine Avenue (3pm).

Pembroke will be boosted tomorrow by the presence Irish international goalkeeper David Harte, who made his comeback from injury during the midweek 4-0 win over YMCA.

The Cork native is often the difference in these encounters, and his duel with Glens sharpshooter and his international colleague Stephen Butler at short corner time will be worth the admission fee alone.

Cork C of I’s visit to Corinthian is the other stand-out tie of the round. The latter are the pace-setters in Leinster this term, and have two exceptionally potent attacking weapons in South African international Darren Kimfley and Davy Carson, while Brian Doherty is the danger-man at corner time.

Nonetheless, Munster’s standard bearers won’t have any fears of travelling to Whitechurch Park.

Elsewhere, Instonians have an instant chance to atone for their IHL defeat to Banbridge six days ago, while Cookstown’s visit to Three Rock Rovers should tell a lot about the recovery powers of two sides licking their wounds after being turned over on home turf in the IHL last Saturday.

Back in Munster, the increasingly intriguing race for the women’s Division One title could take yet another twist at Garryduff, where Cork C of I host Catholic Institute.

Ger O’Carroll’s Institute led the way for the first half of the campaign, but fell 2-1 at UCC earlier this month in their first league encounter with a side that finished above them last term.

The students – who will be targeting another three points at home to Waterford – have since leapfrogged them at the summit, and Institute know they must get at least two points from their visit to Cork to keep pace.

Cork Harlequins were rocked last week by a shock 1-0 home defeat to Bandon, just their third league loss in over a decade which means Ashton could therefore be the victims of a backlash.

Sunday sees a clash of the bottom two at Bandon Grammar, where University of Limerick cannot countenance the thought of defeat.

Marooned at the bottom of the pile with no wins or points from six outings, UL have struggled to field teams this term, and failure to pick up anything against Eddie Kirwan’s charges could leave them up to eight points adrift of the pack come Monday morning.