WOMEN'S HOCKEY: It's hard to resist assuming this season's Club Championships at Belfield will to be the most competitive in recent memory.
For four of the last five years the contest between Pegasus and Hermes has dominated the finals, with three wins and a draw for the Belfast team against the Dubliners in the deciding game proving enough to seal the title and qualification for the European Club Championships.
The old rivals are scheduled to meet again in the final game, but the tie between Cork Harlequins and Old Alexandra, in the penultimate fixture on Monday morning, might just prove to be more than a run-of-the-mill third-place decider. Old Alexandra, who finished second behind Hermes, in the Leinster League, add to their 2002-03 CV a 3-0 win over Pegasus in the last eight of the Irish Senior Cup and a 6-2 aggregate victory over Ards in the club quarter-finals.
Cork Harlequins? With Karen Bateman up front there's always a likelihood of goals, but their defence proved its worth on Saturday when it held Loreto scoreless in the second leg of their club quarter-final.
Pegasus have had a trying season, suffering that 3-0 loss to Alexandra, losing two league games and drawing four more, before coming good in the final stages of the Ulster campaign to hold off Ards. So, it seems, they've lost that air of invincibility, but that's probably when they're at their most dangerous.
Their squad will, after all, include five World Cup players (Arlene Boyles, Karen Humphreys, Katharine Maybin, Claire McMahon and Pamela Magill), as well as the prolific goalscorer Heather Mullan, who was called up to the Irish squad in March but was unable to accept the invitation due to work commitments.
Only the reckless, then, would wager against Pegasus securing their sixth successive Irish title on Monday afternoon.
Four runners-up finishes in five years have made Hermes long since tire of their "bridesmaid" role, so they will hope to do enough against Cork Harlequins tomorrow and Old Alexandra on Sunday to set up yet another decider against Pegasus on Monday afternoon.
CORK HARLEQUINS: O McCarthy, J Hyland, C O'Callaghan, S Canning, E Dillon, K Bateman (capt), R Kohler, J Barry, E Bromell, M Ahern, J Chapple, F Higgins, H Costello, N Kearney, G Kehelly, M Boland. Coach: Ivan Bateman.
HERMES: T Browne, S Hilliard, C Carey, D Sixsmith, J Hodgins, J Osborne, S Young, C Devine (co-capt), F Connery (co-capt), J Burke, A Keane, L Caulfield, R Burke, D Kelly, M Logue, H Kilroy, D McDermott, C Quinlan, R Walsh, Coach: Peter Darley.
OLD ALEXANDRA: N King, A O'Connor, T Conway, R Gibson, U Budd, L Ryan, Z Dahl (capt), K Hiles, G O'Shea, A Bowers, L Johnston, J Perrin, S O'Connor, E O'Reilly, F Murray, H Agar, R Flinn, S Frey. Coach: Ivan Ovington.
PEGASUS: S Moffett, S Richardson, H Beamish, N Graham, J Campbell, F Ferguson, C Redpath (capt), H Mullan, P Magill, K Maybin, S Martin, C McMahon, A Crompton, C Mills-Rabbitt, A Boyles, K Humphreys, D Dowey, J Perry. Coach: Erika Henry.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS (at Belfield) - Tomorrow: Old Alexandra v Pegasus, 12.0; Hermes v Cork Harlequins, 2.0. Sunday: Cork Harlequins v Pegasus, 10.0; Hermes v Old Alexandra, 4.0. Monday: Old Alexandra v Cork Harlequins, 11.30; Hermes v Pegasus, 4.0.
