Clontarf's Jean Carroll and Ashton's Michelle Slyney get caught in a tangle. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Ashton today as they progressed to the second round of the Irish Junior Cup but threw away a valuable league point at home to UL in Division One.

The Ballinlough side’s second team put in a blistering second-half performance against Clontarf to seal a comfortable 3-0 win. Ashton played the better hockey in a scoreless first period, but the Dubliners looked dangerous on the break, with Jean Carroll a constant thorn in the hosts’ defence.

But once skipper Caroline McCarthy put them ahead after a short corner was switched left 10 minutes into the second half – having seen one chalked off just a few minutes earlier – Ashton were firmly in control.

They made the game safe with a superbly-worked goal on 58 minutes. McCarthy linked superbly with the ever-threatening Eimear O’Brien at the top of the circle and burned a ‘Tarf defender on the outside, before pulling the ball back from the endline for Jenny Coughlan to emphatically slam the ball home.

Ashton then put the icing on the cake by beating ‘Tarf at their own game, Aoife Duggan slaloming through the defence on a counter before slotting the ball past Fiona Dowling.

While it was day for celebration for the Ashton second string, their firsts were left frustrated after letting a great chance to move out of the relegation zone slip through their fingers against UL.

Emma Harrington’s double had them 2-0 to the good in the first half, but Laura Peters pulled one back for the Limerick students just before half-time.

Clontarf's Susan Murphy and Ashton's Marguerite Burke duel for possession. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

However, Orla O’Donovan restored Ashton’s two-goal advantage after the break, a lead they held until ten minutes to go when Peters pulled another back for UL.

But the former Bandon Grammar student completed her hat-trick from a short corner with less than 60 seconds remaining to snatch a draw for UL, and propel them into fifth place.

Despite drawing level on points with Bandon and Belvedere, Ashton remain bottom by virtue of an inferior goal difference.

Elsewhere, just one of the remaining three women’s Division One games went ahead, with Belvedere’s clash with UCC and Cork C of I’s visit to Bandon both falling victim to the weather.

But the 2.30pm hit-off time at Harlequin Park allowed the pitch to thaw out in time, and Cork Harlequins made hay as the winter shone shined, routing Catholic Institute 6-0.

Cliodhna Sargent claimed a brace, while Cliona O’Connor, Claire Bergin, Jane Chapple and skipper Rachel McSharry also getting on the scoresheet.

In Division Two, basement side UCC caused a massive surprise by claiming a 1-1 draw at leaders Waterford, ruining the Déise side’s 100% record in the process, despite only travelling with 10 players.

Fiona O’Connell claimed the goal that gave the students their third and fourth points of the season, while Una O’Shea was on target for Waterford.

Second-placed Catholic Institute also dropped points today, crashing 3-0 at mid-table Cork C of I with Julie Coyle, Marie O’Mahony and a Lauragh O’Neill penalty stroke doing the damage.

Ashton's Linda Scannell shields the ball from Clontarf's Deirdre Cantwell. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

In the only other women’s game played today, Tipperary ousted UCC 4-1 to move up to third in Division Four.

Meanwhile, uncertainty hangs over when the U16 girls interpros will be completed after the entire day’s play was wiped out by frozen pitches at Kilkenny College.

A pitch inspection is due to take place tomorrow (Sunday) morning to determine whether tomorrow’s schedule can be completed, but with more cold weather forecast, the outlook isn’t favourable.

In the men’s Division One, Catholic Institute will be looking to build on last weekend’s 2-1 win over Cork Harlequins B when they visit the Mardyke to take on UCC.

Cork Harlequins C and UCC, seen here clashing in Division Two last season, are both in action this weekend. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

However, the Cork students will be targeting their first win of the season, after showing signs in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Bandon that they are finding their feet in the top tier.

In Division Two, Galway will be looking to maintain their 100% start to their promotion push when they host Cork Harlequins C.

The westerners, who slammed six past Bandon C a fortnight ago have benefitted significantly from the return from UCD of Darragh Curley, who has hit four goals in his first two games, while in keeper Aaron Leonowicz they have one of the best young stoppers around.

Meanwhile, the women’s Examiner Cup gets underway this weekend, with four of the five sides involved. The competition was included in the calendar to ensure the lesser lights of Division One aren’t left idle on IHL weekends.

There’s a repeat of last weekend’s league fixture as Bandon take on Belvedere, though the west Cork side will have home advantage this time around, while Ashton host UL. UCC have a weekend off as they continue their intervarsity preparations ahead of their defence of the Chilean Cup in Kilkenny at the end of the month.

Their seconds are in action in Division Two however, making the trip across town to play C of I, while Ashton and Bandon are in action against Catholic Institute and Moyne/Thurles respectively.

Waterford’s top two must both travel down the N25 to take on Cork opposition in Division Three, with Dungarvan visiting Garryduff while Waterford take on Quins at Farmer’s Cross.

Belvedere, who are already four points clear at the summit with three wins from three, will be hoping to make a statement of intent at home to third-placed Fermoy, while Midleton host Clonmel in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

However, Catholic Institute have opted not to follow suit after a  consensus was reached at a club  committee meeting tonight that they remain in Division One of the  Munster Senior Men’s League.

The Limerick outfit’s decision to stay put means the nightmare scenario of seeing the league contested between the first and second teams of Bandon, Cork Harlequins and Cork Church of Ireland has been avoided.

However, Ballincollig-based Belvedere’s absence from Division One will cause fixture headaches, with teams now facing free weekends and loss of revenue.

Munster Branch president John Rose told Southern Fried that the branch had granted Belvedere’s request to drop a division at a meeting on Monday night.

“We met with Belvedere last night, they asked us if their men’s team could drop a division as they try to consolidate their men’s section, and in the interests of hockey we said yes,” he explained. “Hopefully, they’ll take this step back to eventually take two or three steps forward.”

Both Belvedere and Limerick outfit Institute have shipped heavy defeats to the big guns of Quins and C of I in recent years in a severely unbalanced league. It was widely acknowledged that nobody benefited from these games, with the smaller outfits demoralised by occasional double-digit hammerings, while the big two’s national ambitions suffered with a lack of competitive hockey on their doorstep.

Belvedere won't have to endure double-digit hammerings from the likes of Cork Harlequins when they play in Division Two this season. Picture: Des Barry/Irish Examiner

Belvedere captain Paul Hayes said he believed men’s hockey at the club may have died a death had they stayed in Division One.

“It has probably been coming over the last couple of years – we’ve had dwindling resources on the player side, and in the last two years we’ve had a few people move away to Dublin and London,” he explained.

“It hasn’t been great. We were quite lucky over the past couple of years, scraping results in the last two or three games of the season to keep us up.

“We didnt think we had enough quality players to compete in the Division One, so we all took the decision to rally around and move down to the second division.

“It is very disappointing, but we had to take stock. If we had stuck it out and been beaten 12-0 or 14-0 every week, even by the second teams, I think men’s hockey in Belvedere would probably have ceased.”

Initially located in Tower, Belvedere was traditionally served by the Mayfield and Douglas community schools, both of which have long since ceased playing hockey.

The need for an astro-turf pitch prompted a move to Ballincollig, where they are attempting to foster hockey in Ballincollig Community School to secure the club’s future.

However, IHA western development officer Phil Oakley admitted it has been a slow process in an area where rugby is the current sport du jour.

“We’re trying our level best to get boys playing in the two schools, which is what Belvedere really needs,” he explained.

“The club’s biggest problem is that it used to be fed from the UCC men’s team, and that has just dried up; a lot of players don’t stay in Cork anymore.”

“It was a choice of dropping down a division or losing the club completely, and I think the branch has made the right decision. Now we need to focus on getting young guys playing.”

Oakley pointed to the example of Limerick HC, whose senior side entered at Division One level but folded within a couple of years.

He said the club has rebuilt from the bottom up with the help of dedicated volunteers, and comfortably won Division Three last year.

He added that to compete with other sports, hockey would benefit from the exposure of Ireland qualifying for a major championship.

“Look at the cricketers, they beat Pakistan and qualified for the Super Eights. After that, I saw kids out playing cricket with a hurley and three sticks in the ground. We were unlucky with the Olympic qualification this time around, but hopefully we can get to 2012 in London and the 2010 World Cup.”

Lack of player depth is an issue for all clubs in Munster bar the ‘big two’ and Bandon, who benefit from the hockey nurseries at Ashton and Bandon Grammar, and have established youth programmes.

Belvedere and Institute are now both likely to drop their second teams down a division, in order to blood young players in a less competitive arena.

According to John Rose, Belvedere’s plight highlights similar imbalances in schoolboy hockey. He believes the dominance of Bandon Grammar and Ashton – who joined the Leinster Senior Schools League in recent years in search of more competitive hockey – has had a knock-on effect at senior club level.

“There are probably several contributing factors [to clubs dropping divisions], but one of the main ones is that over the past five to seven years the schools development hasn’t been great,” he said.

“The advent of two Munster schools going to play in Leinster certainly didn’t help. It became a very unhealthy situation, insofar as the interest totaly diminished when Ashton and Bandon Grammar left.

“The onus is now on clubs to produce their own players [as a result], and the coaching at youth level by the clubs themselves is becoming more and more important.”

Indeed, a glance at the the current men’s Irish squad shows that all of the Munster representatives are products of both schools. David Hobbs, Mark Black, John Jermyn and Karl Burns are Ashton alumni, while twins Conor and David Harte and Jason Lynch won an All-Ireland Schools title with Bandon Grammar in 2004. It’s the same story with the last Munster interpro squad, selected minus internationals.

Even below elite level, the majority of decent schools players are members of Quins, Bandon or C of I, with a few playing for top clubs elsewhere when they move to university – Lynch is plying his trade with Lisnagarvey while at Queen’s University, Bandon graduate Patrick Shanahan has joined Three Rock Rovers and the Hartes are at Pembroke.

It leaves the likes of Belvedere scrapping around for players who can’t get into the first or second sides at Quins, Bandon and C of I. Meanwhile, Limerick’s lack of competitive schoolboys hockey means Institute must grow their own, only to see the best inevitably leave for greener pastures in Cork and Dublin.

A round-robin tournament will be staged between Ashton, Bandon, Belvedere, Catholic Institute, UL and UCC on weekends that Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins are in action in the inaugural Irish Hockey League.

The competition has been introduced to ensure the five clubs aren’t left with no games while Quins and C of I are in action in the IHL on October 18, November 29, January 31, March 7 and April 4.

It is understood the Cork Examiner Trophy, which was awarded to the winner of a season-opening one-day tournament up until the late 1990s, will be dusted off and revived for the new competition.

Sarah Gray (left) and Julia O'Halloran, seen here in the colours of Catholic Institute and Cork Harlequins respectively, are now on the same side at UCC, who will be among five clubs looking to win the new women's round-robin trophy. Picture: Richard Mills/Evening Echo

Women’s Round-Robin Tournament (name TBC)

October 18: Ashton vs Bandon; Belvedere vs Catholic Institute; UL vs UCC.

November 29: Bandon vs Belvedere; Catholic Institute vs UL; UCC vs Ashton.

January 31: Ashton vs UL; Bandon vs Catholic Institute; Belvedere vs UCC.

March 7: Ashton vs Belvedere; UL vs Bandon; UCC vs Catholic Institute.

April 4: Belvedere vs UL; Bandon vs UCC; Catholic Institute vs Ashton.