AFTER THE long spell of frozen pitches, success in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup could come down to the clubs that best saw out the big chill without totally seizing up. The seven first-round matches have some room for surprise, although the bigger named Dublin clubs have the luxury of home draws.
With such a gap since the teams were last able to line out, it could be a matter of who hits the ground running with holders Pembroke home at Serpentine Avenue to lowly Bangor.
While Bangor can hardly be called Ulster high fliers, they will bring a certain structured game plan to Ballsbridge. They won’t try to outplay the strongest club in the country but the holders can be sure the visitors will have a well thought-out view on how to best get something from the visit.
That said, Pembroke are overwhelming favourites to advance although they still have French goalkeeper Anto Bruneax on standby in the event of regular Conor Harte not being fit enough to play between the sticks.
An interesting meeting will take place at Alexandra College, where YMCA men have been playing their home games. Cork Harlequins arrive with hopes of advancing and repeating the campaign of three years ago when they won the competition.
Three Rock Rovers will cautiously welcome Bandon and again, if the weather does not continue to fall below zero up in the shadows of Three Rock Mountain, the home side will line out with confidence of taking the Munster men.
There are two all-Dublin meetings with the UCD students hoping to catch favourites Monkstown on the hop at Belfield and Railway Union planning to raise their game for the arrival of Corinthians to Park Avenue.
Corinthians currently top the Leinster league table with Railway third from the bottom, while UCD, at second bottom are just that little closer to mid-table Monkstown.
As Glenanne have a bye to the next round, they will use Saturday and Sunday to try to claw back lost time as they are three or four matches behind most clubs. With just seven games played in the league compared to Corinthian’s 12 and Rovers 13, they are approximately a month behind everyone else. Saturday’s journey to ALSAA and Sunday’s meeting with Monkstown should alleviate the backlog.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday – Irish Senior Cup - Round One: YMCA v Cork Harlequins, Old Alexandra, 1.30; Three Rock Rovers v Bandon, Grange Road, 3.0; Pembroke v Bangor, Serpentine Avenue, 3.0; UCD v Monkstown, Belfield, 1.0; Railway Union v Corinthians, Park Avenue, 2.45; Cork C of I v Clontarf, Garryduff, 2.0; Banbridge v North Down, Havelock Park, 2.30. Leinster Senior League - Fingal v Glenanne, ALSAA, 1.30.
