Scoil Mhuire and Regina Mundi ready for all-Cork Munster Senior Hockey Final

It has been 35 years since either of these schools has lifted the silverware.

HISTORY BECKONS: Regina Mundi manager Nikki Barry (right) who was part of the Irish U19 side that won the Four Nations tournament recently.

As far as the two managers involved are concerned, this is probably the perfect Munster Senior Hockey final pairing.

It's an all-Cork affair in the showpiece occasion as Scoil Mhuire take on Regina Mundi at Ashton School (2.30pm start).

Mhuire will be hoping to secure the silverware for the first time since 1975 while Regina have won it more recently, albeit that triumph came back in 1988.

Not that he was thinking about losing in the lead up to this match but given his previous ties to his opponents, Mhuire manager Dave Egner could think of worse teams to be beaten by.

"I actually used to work for Regina Mundi at the start," Egner tells the Irish Examiner.

"Then I used to work for Scoil Mhuire and Regina Mundi before I basically went full-time with Scoil Mhuire just to try and push the school forward. I became their director of hockey maybe five or six years ago.

"Personally, to win this cup, I would be absolutely delighted. But it is more for the team, just to see the joy on their faces especially creating history for the school because we haven't won it in so long.

"We're really looking forward to the final. I've been coaching with Scoil Mhuire now for over 13 years and this is the first time I've got to a Senior Cup final.

"It's 1999 since the girls were last in this final and it was 1975 the last time they won it so it's a massive occasion for the whole school.

"We are aware of their dangerous players, they are strong down the middle so we won't be underestimating them."

That's because when the sides met earlier in the campaign, Regina battled back from three goals down in the last 10 minutes to snatch a draw.

And Mundi manager Nikki Barry, who was coached by Egner when she was a student at Scoil Mhuire, is confident her players can get the victory this time around.

"It would be a fantastic achievement for the school and the girls," she admits.

"The school is a very proud hockey school and it has always been competitive when it comes to cup competitions.

"We drew 5-5 in our last encounter with Scoil Mhuire but we are very confident of getting a win this time. It will be a very good match with both schools having Irish and Munster players involved so we are really looking forward to it."

SCOIL MHUIRE: L Nixon, E Smith, E Nolan (C), R Walsh, Z Byrne, S Nolan, A Noonan, A Nangle (C), I Martin, K O’Keeffe, S Cunningham.

Subs: S Moloney, J Olden, E McCauliff, A McSweeney, P MacKeown, G McSweeney, I Healy.

REGINA MUNDI: M Harney (VC), S O'Sullivan, K Moore, A O’Neill, J Allen, S Murray, É Curran, C Maye (C), R O’Mahony, K Toomey, J Egar.

Subs: S Peterson, A Ahearne, S Ahearne, D Butler, E Costigan, S De Courcy, M McCarthy, K Toomey.

Match Umpires: Liz Clifford and Brian Attridge.

Match TO and Judges: David Wolfe, Kay Treacy and Sally Kavanagh.