Cork Harlequins battling for EY Hockey League survival

Cork Harlequins’ outside hopes of a great escape in the women’s EY Hockey League were dealt a cruel blow on Saturday at Farmer’s Cross as their Belfast namesakes nicked a 1-0 win.

The result leaves Eddie Gash’s youngsters eight points off safety with six games remaining but, crucially, all of those are against sides in the playoff hunt.

Emma Uprichard’s 19th minute goal gave Belfast the points pushing them five points clear of the relegation zone.

The Cork side had the pick of the first quarter chances with Beth Anne O’Farrell going close but the Belfast side came into their own and began to threaten before Uprichard got the only goal.

At the opposite end of the table, Catholic Institute continued their excellent start to 2022 with a third successive victory since the turn of the year, keeping them in second place as they were too good for Muckross.

The first quarter was scoreless with Insta testing the Muckross defensive mettle before taking the lead in the second quarter through Naomi Carroll, a cracking reverse-stick shot from the Olympian.

That was how it remained through to half-time but the Limerick side cut loose in the second half with Hannah Kelly grabbing a second goal. And Róisín Upton added two penalty corner drag-flicks in the closing period to increase the lead to 4-0.

They could potentially be Munster’s only EYHL side next term as Cork C of I’s women came unstuck in their EYHL2 tie against Queen’s on Saturday 4-1 with Jessica McMaster scoring a hat trick.

In Munster, UCC returned to the top of Division One with a 4-0 away success against Waterford with Elva Kerr, Caoimhe Perdue, Aoibhinn Martin and Nikki Barry scoring one each. They have the slight edge on C of I on goal difference with two rounds of matches remaining. In men’s Munster Division One, Cork Harlequins won the one game on the weekend agenda 3-2 against UCC, John Hobbs, Jack O’Meara and John Whyte outdoing an Evin McClure double.