Nothing to choose between big two

The Munster men’s Division One crown will finally find a home tonight as Cork Harlequins and Cork Church of Ireland meet in a title playoff at Farmer’s Cross (7.45pm). The sides finished the regular season level on 33 points from 12 games, each losing once to the other. And their closeness their year is highlighted further by the fact that they took cups off each other too, with C of I claiming the Peard Cup and Quins the Munster Senior Cup. With that in mind, the Harlequin Park sand might tip the balance slightly in Quins’ favour if they can keep C of I short corner specialist John Jermyn at bay.

Phil Oakley’s men are on something of a high having emerged as the susprise contenders for the Irish Senior Cup, where they’ll meet Instonians in the semi-finals on May 12. But on the downside for them is the absence of Dan Hobbs, Brian Hayes Curtin and Phil O’Driscoll, although they would have been even lighter on personnel had the game been fixed for the Bank Holiday Saturday. C of I will hope that the nerves and tetchiness they showed against UCC in their final league game will now be out of their system after they pulled away to a comfortable 4-1 victory in the second half. Ashton schoolboys Richard Sweetnam and Gary Wilkinson will also bring the confidence and feel-good factor from Wednesday’s cup final win over Midleton College to the mix. Elsewhere, the momentum is with YMCA as they bid to annex a first Irish Hockey League crown at the finals weekend at Lisnagarvey. The Dubliners are the form side going into their semi-final clash against local rivals Monkstown at the Lisburn venue, with Cork (Jonny Bruton) and Australian (Marcus Richardson) influences combining to spectacular goal-scoring effect in recent weeks. Monkstown’s season has faltered somewhat with injuries to key players such as Kyle Good and Gareth Watkins, both of whom will be absent again, but they are rarely short of goal will still be too tough to call. The other semi-final is an all-Ulster affair, with domestic kingpins Cookstown going toe to toe against hosts ‘Garvey. Hermes will hope to welcome back set-piece specialist Audrey O’Flynn for their women’s IHL semi-final clash with Railway Union, the Cork-born Irish international drag-flicker having missed six weeks with a broken jaw. Loreto clash with Pegasus in the other last four tie. Munster Men’s Div 1 title playoff: Cork Harlequins v Cork C of I, Harlequin Park, 7.45pm Irish Hockey League finals weekend, Lisnagarvey HC, Hillsborough, Co Down Saturday: Women’s semi-finals: Hermes v Railway Union, 10.30am; Loreto v Pegasus, 12.30pm; Men’s semi-finals: YMCA v Monkstown, 1.15pm; Cookstown v Lisnagarvey, 3.30pm. Sunday: Women’s final, 1.30pm; Men’s final: 4pm.