WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Just a fortnight after they produced an absorbing Irish Senior Cup final at Belfield, Ballymoney and Hermes square up again, this time in the quarter-finals of the Club Championships. The Ulster side, who host the first leg of the tie tomorrow, will hope for a significant improvement on their last meeting at this stage of the competition with the reigning All-Ireland champions: four years ago Hermes won 7-1 over two legs.
Ballymoney have, though, come a long way since, and while Hermes remain firm favourites they will be wary of their opponents in light of their stirring comeback in the cup final, which was settled by penalty strokes.
The return of Ruth Sutherland and Angela Huey, who opted out of the final because it was played on the Sabbath, brings Ballymoney up to full strength. As their short-corner specialist, Sutherland's availability will be particularly welcomed; but her talents in that department will go to waste unless Ballymoney can improve on the one corner they earned at Belfield.
Hermes are seeking their third All-Ireland title in a row and, ironically, should Ballymoney lose out over the two legs they would be the Dublin side's cheerleaders supreme in the finals: if Hermes were to triumph in Cork over the May bank holiday weekend, Ballymoney would take their place in next season's European Cup Winners' Cup.
The pairing of Railway Union and Cork Harlequins, and the failure of Old Alexandra to reach the quarter-finals, means there will be at least one change to last year's line-up. Railway will be attempting to reach the finals for the first time, while Harlequins will be desperate to ensure a Munster representative in the Garryduff-hosted tournament.
For Garryduff's own Church of Ireland to reach the finals the biggest shock in the competition's history will be required: fresh from winning their eighth successive Ulster League title, opponents Pegasus are intent on regaining the All-Ireland crown they held for five years until Hermes dethroned them two seasons ago.
Leinster champions Loreto, meanwhile, must overcome Randalstown, whom they play at the Antrim Forum in tomorrow's first leg. They should prove too strong for Randalstown, crushed 7-1 on aggregate by Alexandra in last year's quarter-finals.
The formbook, then, suggests Hermes, Pegasus and Loreto should be spending their Bank Holiday weekend in Cork, but the Railway v Harlequins tie is infinitely trickier to forecast, not least because the Munster champions haven't had a serious competitive test since losing to Hermes in the cup in January.
Meanwhile, having initially been placed in a pool that included Germany and Scotland for August's European Championships in Dublin, Ireland must now plan for games against the Netherlands, Spain and France in the tournament after the European Hockey Federation, acting on an instruction from the International Hockey Federation, changed the composition of the pools.
The change is due to the FIH's insistence that its world rankings be the basis for the pool structure, rather than the final rankings from the 2003 European Championships and qualifying tournaments.
REVISED POOLS: Pool A: The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, France. Pool B: England, Germany, Ukraine, Scotland.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS - Quarter-finals, first leg: Randalstown v Loreto, Antrim Forum, 2.30; Ballymoney v Hermes, Joey Dunlop Centre, 2.30; Railway Union v Cork Harlequins, Park Avenue, 1.15; Church of Ireland v Pegasus, Garryduff, 12.30.
