One day, one chance for UCC

The club hockey season is a distant memory for the majority of the country’s players, but those sides hoping to find a backdoor route to next year’s Irish Hockey League must tog off one last time before the summer break. The combination of March’s Olympic qualifiers and the presence of Hermes and YMCA in the IHL semi-finals has seen the wildcard playoffs moved back a fortnight, creating an unfortunate for UCC, who are both the men’s and women’s representatives from Munster. With a number of players exam-tied, the women have pulled out of the tournament while the Irish Hockey Association agreed to a request from the men’s side to play both their games tomorrow to ensure their participation. That leaves both competitions to be played out by three sides with two to qualify.

The Cork students, already carrying the underdog tag, are still likely to be left short on firepower up front with Roger Gray and Malcolm Coombes both set to miss out while Fionn O’Leary is only half-fit having been sidelined by a shoulder injury. They are therefore likely to give their all against Instonians in their first game at Belfield (12pm) and hope to sneak a result before battening down the hatches against YMCA later in the day (4pm). Inst and YM will then meet on Sunday, albeit at a different venue in Banbridge’s Havelock Park; this could ultimately prove to be a dead rubber however, if both sides prevail against the students on Saturday. UCC can at least get some insight on the Inst challenge from fellow Munster men Cork Harlequins, who beat the Belfast outfit 4-3 en route to their memorable Irish Senior Cup success last weekend. Meanwhile, Hermes will be unbackable favourites to win out in the women’s wildcards, which also feature Galway and Ards but no Munster side since UCC pulled out. This season’s IHL semi-finalists have a side laden with stars but they could only finish fifth domestically as they struggled without their Irish international contingent. The weekend’s crucial tie is likely to be Galway’s meeting with Ards on Saturday; a Connacht side has never qualified for the IHL but the westerners have a side backboned by players with underage international experience and will be quietly hopeful of shocking the Ulster girls. Irish Hockey League Wildcards Men Saturday, UCD: UCC v Instonians, 12pm; UCC v YMCA, 4pm. Sunday, Banbridge: Instonians v YMCA, 2.30pm. Women Friday, UCD: Hermes v Galway, 8pm; Saturday, UCD: Ards v Galway, 2pm; Sunday, Banbridge: Hermes v Ards, 12.30pm