While officially the word from the International Hockey Federation is that Ireland will have to wait until March, after the Americas Cup, to learn whether or not they have won a place in next September's World Cup Qualifier in France, unofficially it has been all but confirmed that they have made it in to the line-up.
It's good news for Riet Kuper and the Irish panel, which met in Dublin over the weekend - if they had missed out on the qualifier the senior team would not have had a competitive tournament until the summer of 2002 at the earliest.
"It's important for us to be in it, to give us something to work towards," said Kuper who had a somewhat depleted panel of players to work with after a number of cry-offs and injuries. Both Lynsey McVicker and Pamela Magill were allowed home early after picking up knocks but newcomers Ciara O'Brien and Jenny McDonough were present and did well enough to impress Kuper who spoke of their `promise'.
It was a quiet weekend on the club front with Genesis and Railway Union the only Senior Leinster clubs in action. Goals from Siobhan Keogh and Sinead ni Shiochain gave Genesis a 2-0 win in the Leinster Senior Cup tie, setting up a second round meeting with UCD.
It is one of only two all-Senior A games in the draw, the other pairing being Loreto and Muckross. Cup holders Old Alexandra have a home tie against Pembroke Wanderers II while Alexandra's seconds are away to Loreto II.
It was a good weekend for Pegasus, despite the fact the fact they weren't even playing. Both their main rivals in section one, Portadown and Harlequins, dropped points in draws with Coleraine and Knock, respectively.
