WOMEN HOCKEY: Pegasus open the defence of their Club Championship title in Cork tomorrow when they play UCC in the first leg of the quarter-finals. The Belfast side will, however, only be able to take 14 players with them, having lost sweeper Arlene Boyles and forward Joanne Campbell through injury - Pamela Magill is also a doubt with a back problem.
Ballymoney, meanwhile, will hope that Loreto's feet haven't hit the ground since their Irish Cup success before they meet at the Joey Dunlop Centre in the first leg of their quarter-final. The Ulster runners-up were at the receiving end of a 7-1 drubbing, over two legs, when they played Hermes at the same stage last season, but with a successful league campaign and European experience behind them their largely young squad should prove a different prospect this time around.
Loreto are the only club so far assured of European competition next season, with the Club Championships offering the final ticket. Hermes are desperate to secure it but they too have injury concerns (including Jenny Burke, Carol Devine and Fiona Connery), ahead of their tie away to Ards.
Having pipped Portadown to third place in the Ulster league, Ards are making their Club Championship debut, as are UCC and Pembroke Wanderers. Pembroke held off the challenge of UCD to take third in Leinster's first division, with four points to spare, and now take on Harlequins .
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS - Quarter-finals, first legs: Pembroke Wanderers v Cork Harlequins, Serpentine Avenue, 2.0; Ards v Hermes, Ards Leisure Centre, 1.30; Ballymoney v Loreto, Joey Dunlop Centre, 1.30; UCC v Pegasus, The Mardyke, 12.30.
