IHL qualification the carrot for Quins and UCC

It’s a vital weekend for UCC and Cork Harlequins, who are still battling for the automatic Irish Hockey League qualification spot offered by finishing second in Munster. College are the side in possession and will open up a five-point lead if, as expected, they defeat UL in their final league encounter. But the students’ fate is out of their hands thereafter; they could then face a nervous for Quins to complete the remaining three games of their league programme in the coming week or so.

College will be hoping for a favour from Catholic Institute, who have already claimed the league title but are gunning for a 100% record this season and will be hoping to complete it at Harlequin Park tomorrow (12pm). Institute beat Belvedere 6-0 for the second time in five days on Thursday night – Katie Campbell the hat-trick hero this time, with last week’s treble-grabber Naomi Carroll on target once while Kym Daly notched a double. The permutations for Quins are simple — if they can take six points from the nine on offer against Institute, Bandon (away) and C of I (home), they will qualify and College will head to the minefield of the wildcard playoffs. Bandon are not out of the equation mathematically either, but must win their last three games — starting tomorrow against C of I, before they go to Belvedere for a high noon showdown on Sunday — and hope Quins lose all theirs to claim third place. That latter encounter will be anything but straightforward; it’s Belvedere’s last game of the campaign and they are fighting for their Division 1 lives, needing a positive result of any sort to either force a playoff with UL or dramatically overhaul the Limerick students. Meanwhile, Glenanne have two bites at the cherry to claim the Leinster men’s title this weekend as they face Monkstown and Weston, where they still need a point after losing to YMCA and drawing with Corinthian in recent days. Only a miracle can stop Hermes winning the ladies’ crown; avoiding defeat away to UCD will be enough, while a superior goal difference should also leave them safe even if they fail to pick up a point.

It’s the turn of the Irish Junior Cup to grab the national attention at Belfield tomorrow; Lisnagarvey have a chance to complete a remarkable double with their men taking on Banbridge and women locking horns with Railway Union, both hoping to add to the Irish Trophy won by the Co Down club’s women’s first team last weekend. Meanwhile, in schools news,  Crescent College Comprehensive’s remarkable year of success in schoolgirls hockey continued unabated this week as they defeated Bandon Grammar School 3-0 at Rosbrien to claim the Munster Junior A Cup. The school, which recently hosted and claimed the bronze medal at the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships, has now annexed league and cup doubles at minor, junior and senior level for the first time, as well as winning seven of the eight available provincial cup competitions. Munster Div 1: Cork Harlequins v Catholic Institute (Harlequin Park, 12pm); Bandon v Cork C of I (Bandon Grammar, 4.30pm); UL v UCC (UL, 1.30pm); Sunday: Belvedere v Bandon (Ballincollig CS, 12pm).