Students face toughest exam

Exam commitments are foremost in the mind of UCC’s students right now but they have one more assignment on the pitch too in tomorrow’s Irish Hockey League wildcard playoff final against Old Alex (Garryduff, 2pm).

The Cork girls withdrew from last year’s wildcard due to exam clashes, and the year off has done them good with increasing competitiveness in Munster, a run to the Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals and the return of Irish international Miriam Crowley boosting their ranks after a spell with Hermes. The likes of Amy-Kate Trevor, Aine Curran and Nicola Kerr have also come on this year and they will hope to cause an upset against a powerful Alex side featuring experienced senior internationals Shirley McCay and Pamela Smithwick, plus recent Irish call-up Erika Hinkson. The new wildcard knockout format — replacing a centralised round robin tournament — has suited both sides thus far; College beat Galway 3-0 in their semi-final with Alex winning out by the same margin against Ulster Elks. That the tie is in Cork will help the students, both in terms of study commitments and their familiarity with the Garryduff surface. Meanwhile, the AGM of the Munster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association resumes at the Firgrove Hotel in Mitchelstown on Sunday at 3pm. The original meeting was suspended a fortnight ago due to a lack of nominees for management committee positions, with clubs having been tasked in the meantime with finding volunteers to fill the void.