UL bidding to bounce back

University of Limerick have led something of a charmed life in the top tier of Munster women’s hockey in recent seasons, someh0w twice avoiding relegation in the past two seasons. In 2010, Waterford went down automatically but Belvedere requested a shot at UL in a promotion/relegation playoff. The subseuqent 7-1 hammering suggested the students were the correct candidates to be Division Two-bound, but their university club status saw them kept up by the Munster branch. Last season, having endured a miserable time amid some double-digit defeats, they pulled a result out of the bag when it mattered, holding Cork C of I to a 1-1 draw that ultimately saved their skin.

Stephanie Peters got the vital goal that day, and the 19-year-old Bandon native will skipper George Blackwell’s side this year, as the two-team club hopes to attract the players who can help consolidate their position at the top table of Munster hockey. “The high turnover of players, with not enough players coming in to bridge the void (is why we’ve struggled),” says Peters. “It’s something we’ve been trying to address recently. With the nature of college hockey, it’s just one of those cycles that we find ourselves in. But we made huge progress as a team and club in the latter half of last season. So although we’re not completely out of the woods yet, we’re confident that the upward trend can continue this year.” Whereas college side and tradition ensure a regular conveyor belt of players onto UCC’s women’s teams, things are different for UL, who have a smaller base of players to pick from. Peters nonetheless knows no-one is going to do the club’s recruitment for them. “I think our biggest problem at the moment is whether we can get enough dedicated and strong players training on a weekly basis and being available to play at weekends, because as proven last year we can battle it out when we have our best team out,” she says. “With such a huge variety of clubs and societies to get involved with while in college, it’s up to us a club to get these players to keep up the sport once they come to college. College hockey is a great way to enhance the college experience, and an opportunity to make life-long friends, so it’s definitely something we’d really encourage.” Stressing that UL is an open club – allowing those in Mary Immaculate College and LIT to line out for them – Peters adds that they are keen to make a good fist of the intervarsities in NUIG at Halloween having been absent from last year’s tournament in UCD, and is appealing tofirst years in particular to get in contact. “All you need to join us is an interest in hockey!We have teams in Division 1 and Division 3 to suit different players. Any players that would like to play with us this season are more than welcome to join us in our pre-season training over the next couple of weeks. It’s also a great chance for players to get to know students already in UL and get their bearings before they start college. “There’s a great group of girls involved in the club and morale is never low. We go through all the hard work together and enjoy celebrating our successes as a team!” UL LHC can be contacted on ulladieshockeyclub(at)gmail.com, via Facebook or their website.