College bragging rights at stake up north

With club action taking a break in Munster for the Bank Holiday weekend, those who aren’t out jazzing will turn their attention northwards to Belfast, as the Irish Hockey Intervarsity competition gets underway tomorrow, with University of Ulster Jordanstown hosting. The locals, who play under the moniker of Ulster Elks, are defending the men’s Mauritius Cup, while their women will have series designs on the Chilean Cup over the course of the three-day tournament. The Elks’ ladies boast a cosmopolitan side featuring Indian and French internationals Suman Bala and Philippine Berly in their ranks, but have been drawn in the tougher of the two pools with holders UCD, Trinity, CIT and Queens. UCD have lost a number of mainstays from last year’s side but are still a serious outfit, skippered by Irish international hitwoman Lisa Jacob, while Fiona Bradish and Rosie Carrigan are also key performers.

Trinity are the dark horses following a great start to their Leinster league campaign – fresher Kylie Deverell is among one of the best additions to a squad captained by Cork native Caroline Murphy. DCU and CIT are both in a similar boat, in terms of having very mixed abilities within their squads. The Glasnevin college can call on the likes of Ali Meeke and Hannah Matthews, while Cliodhna Sargent, Leslie-Ann Daunt and Alma Kingston should anchor the latter’s challenge. UCC have the most settled squad of the lot however, and will be unbackable favourites to top Group Two, which also contains UL, DCU, Royal College of Surgeons and NUI Galway. They are looking to replicate their successes of 2006 and 2007 and avenge last year’s final defeat to UCD, which robbed them of a three-in-a-row. While their international trio of Julia O’Halloran, Miriam Crowley and Audrey O’Flynn will be at the heart of their efforts, College will also be hoping that freshers Rosie Shanahan, Kate Murphy, Nicky Kingston and Olivia Roycroft step up to the plate. UL are also in this group, and despite a poor start to the season they picked up a morale-boosting Examiner Cup draw at Greenfields last weekend that will stand them in good stead. Summer departures have weakened the Limerick girls, but Jen O’Loughlin and skipper Jess Kelleher are very capable performers at any level. There is also a notable Munster connection to this year’s NUI Galway vintage – they are skippered by former Bandon Grammar girl Alex Fleming. The men’s competition may be partially dictated by which Irish international players are allowed participate. Those selected in the 18-man squad for the upcoming World Cup qualification tournament are definitely out, which will deprive DCU of the services of Pembroke Wanderers trio Conor and David Harte and Alan Sothern. Some of the Irish fringe players — such as DCU’s Gareth Watkins and Ulster Elks’ David Ames — may yet be released to line out, however.

The Elks and UCD have the strongest squads on paper and will be expected to top their respective pools, while Trinity, DCU, UCC and last year’s finalists CIT look best-placed to join them. The Cork derby in Group B – which could be a winner-takes-all shootout for a last four berth – will throw up an intriguing family battle, as brothers Andrew and Roger Gray face each other. Both play their club hockey with UCC, but Roger is a CIT student and therefore will be lining out for the Bishopstown college against his club team-mates. Both Cork sides will be forced to blood new players at this year’s varsities, albeit for different reasons. CIT are a much-changed side from the one that narrowly lost out to the Elks in last year’s decider. Gone are the likes of Billy Lynch, Stephen Parker and Phil O’Driscoll, meaning their talismen this time around will be Roger Gray, Ali Smith, Darren Beamish and player-coach John Hobbs. UCC can now call on players of the calibre of Andy Gray, Mark Welch and David Mills, but with many of their players unavailable, injured or ineligible, the side they field will bear little resemblance to the one that competes in Munster’s top tier, but they are still hopeful of mounting a series challenge. UL are Munster’s sole representatives in the other pool, but despite the presence of Munster U21 Simon Brickenden and Catholic Institute full-back Ed Gleeson in their squad, are unlikely to be in the shake-up for a semi-final slot. Chilean Cup Group A: Ulster Elks, UCD, CIT, Queens, Trinity Group B: UCC, UL, NUI Galway, DCU, Royal College of Surgeons Mauritius Cup Group A: Ulster Elks, UL, Trinity, DCU, Royal College of Surgeons Group B: CIT, UCD, UCC, Queens, NUI Maynooth Sunday and Monday: Pool matches Tuesday: Cup semi-finals & finals, Plate semi-finals & finals