UCC facing nightmare fixture pile-up

University College Cork will see their resources stretched to the limit over the coming weeks as they gear up for a marathon stint of five away games in eight days. Neil Welch’s men are down to play Harlequins B away on Saturday before taking on Quins firsts on Tuesday night. Bandon are next up on Thursday 17th before they meet Quins again in the Munster Senior Cup semi-finals on Saturday 19th, finishing up with another trip to west Cork 24 hours later. With at least four of the panel also playing 2nds hockey, they could be facing into the prospect of seven matches in eight days should all the fixtures go ahead.

Welch will hope the fact that six of the first team were also involved in a high-quality tournament in Barcelona with the Irish Universities last week will have them comparatively sharp after the Christmas break. Meanwhile, the second in a glut of Cork Harlequins v Cork Church of Ireland derbies is the main attraction this weekend, with the perennial rivals duelling at Garryduff tomorrow (1pm). C of I hold the upper hand psychologically, having comfortably beat Quins 3-1 in the Peard Cup final on St Stephen’s Day. Both sides were missing players that day though, and it will be interesting to see whether the potential return of the Lombards swings things back in Quins’ favour, or whether Andy Herbert and Philip Smith can return to tighten things up further at the back for the blues. C of I’s seconds are off to Bandon in a clash that should provide more intrigue than usual, given the west Cork men are in the unusual position of needing to make up ground on the Garryduff second string. Meanwhile, having seen their women’s Irish Senior Cup clash with Pegasus twice postponed due to weather, Catholic Institute will be hoping it’s third time lucky at Rosbrien today (1pm). Of the three women’s top flight ties, the Treaty city derby between Limerick and UL has the tastiest look about it with the students needing to overturn the 3-1 loss in their previous meeting to earn their first points of the campaign. They’ll welcome back Steph Peters from Irish Unis duty and will hope other key players have returned from holidays and erasumus to line out. Basement side Fermoy begin a tough couple of of fixtures when they host leaders Quins with an early 11am start. Mark Egner’s charges rallied well in their most recent clash against C of I before Christmas before going down 3-2. But Stephen Dale’s troops have their tails up and will be keen to get as much points as possible on the board before the influential Cliodhna Sargent returns to Ireland duty, having been available all season thus far as she took time out from the national setup. It’s the first leg of a double weekend for Quins, who face a potential banana skin on Sunday when a fresh and in-form C of I come calling to Farmer’s Cross. Eddie Kirwan will be hoping his charges can re-ignite some of the duo’s classic showdowns of the mid-to-late 2000s, when C of I were Quins’ closest title rivals until the emergence of Institute and UCC. Men’s Div 1: Cork C of I v Cork Harlequins, Garryduff, 1pm; Cork Harlequins B v UCC, Farmer’s Cross, 2pm; Bandon v Cork C of I B, Bandon Grammar, 2.30pm. Tuesday: Cork Harlequins v UCC, Farmer’s Cross, 7pm. Women’s Irish Senior Cup Rd 2 re-fixture: Catholic Institute v Pegasus, Rosbrien, 1pm. Women’s Div 1: Limerick v UL, Villiers, TBC; Fermoy v Cork Harlequins, Loreto Fermoy, 11am. Sunday: Cork Harlequins v Cork C of I, Farmer’s Cross, 1pm.