The Munster Branch of the IHA last night confirmed that UCC are to take Belvedere’s place in Division One of the Munster Men’s Senior League.
The students’ proposal to move up from Division Two, first discussed last week, was unanimously approved, and solves a fixture headache in the process. Belvedere’s decision to voluntarily drop a division had left the top tier with just seven teams, creating an obvious problem with one team left without a fixture every week.
UCC's men will have their work cut out to prove they can handle life in Division One. Picture: Dan McClanahan
While the inclusion of College has alleviated that problem, doubts remain over whether they can be competitive in Division One given the yawning gap that already exists between the haves and have-nots in the league. College, who are coached by IHA chairman John Dennis, missed out on promotion at the tail end of last season, losing in a playoff against Bandon B 4-2.
While their female counterparts have benefitted in recent years from the migration of C of I and Quins players to the club, the men have soldiered on while dozens of interprovincial-standard players and the odd Irish international have passed through the college without ever representing the skull and crossbones.
Nonetheless, the return to Division One presents an interesting challenge to Dennis and his players, who will be out to prove they are worth their place at Munster hockey’s top table.
Meanwhile, UCC women’s coach Denis Pritchard has professed himself satisfied with his side’s pre-season trip to England last weekend.
College shipped eight goals in two defeats to Loughborough, going down 5-0 and 3-0, but Pritchard said he was happier to see his side play creatively rather than engaging in damage limitation.
However, the students decided not to fulfill their third fixture against Leicester after a litany of injuries to the likes of Audrey O’Flynn, Orla Crowley and Eibhlin O’Donoghue left them severely short of bodies.
The trip was intended to give College worthwhile pitch-time ahead of the new season, which for them kicks off two weeks later than everyone else when Catholic Institute visit the Mardyke on October 4.
College are notoriously slow starters – last year they lost their first three games, which ultimately cost them an automatic Irish Hockey League slot and dashed any hopes of an Irish Senior Cup run. But if they can hit the ground running this year, they will pose a threat to everyone, with few teams able to boast a midfield containing three Irish internationals.
The students have been paired with Bandon and Belvedere in the new Ladies Examiner Cup competition, which has been split into two pools. Ashton, UL and Catholic Institute will battle it out in the other group, with all fixtures for this competition having been moved from IHL Saturdays at the branch’s request, as have the men’s Charity Cup games.
Elsewhere, Bandon and Quins both appear to have lost a ladies team this season, having withdrawn from Divisions Five and Six respectively. Clonmel have been moved up from Division Six to take the west Cork side’s place.
Aside from UCC and Belvedere’s straight swap between Divisions One and Two, the only other change in the men’s leagues sees Catholic Institute B drop to Division Three. In both the women’s and men’s leagues, Division Three will be split after Christmas, with the lower-ranking teams forming Division Four.
Post Author:
alangood
5 Replies to “UCC to replace Belvedere in top tier”
Might be nicer if Cath Inst B went up to Div 2 rather than remaining in Div 3. Now there are three mens divisions of 8, 7 and a lump of 11. Unlike Div 2 many Cork based teams in Div 3 don’t travel to Limerick so Cath Inst would have got more matches if they had gone to Div 2. Div 3 is generally less ambitious so the thought of going to Limerick and possibly getting hammered is a bit offputting. Cath Inst were 2nd in the Div 3 for the last few years so they are well capable of competing in the Division 2. Then again the thought of Limerick, Galway and Cath Inst in the one league might be just too much travelling for those in Div 2. Pity though, esp as Cath Inst do have a team in Div 1 and the more matches they can get the better.
I gather that the decision to leave Catholic Institute B in Div 3 was part of their vote to remain in Div 1. While they could obviously compete in Div 2, I think it was felt they’d be better served by having their seconds at a lower level and nurturing young players there. And that ‘lump of 11’ will be split into two divisions after Christmas – I can only presume this is due to the unpredictabiliy of the quality of the teams in Div 3&4 year-on-year.
It would be interesting to know whether Belvedere have a long term strategy to address their current problem, with regards to a devlopment/recruitment program for boys. Hopefully this drop to a lower division isn’t just a quick fix solution that will ultimately do more damage than good, seeing as they are losing a couple of their better, more experienced players. We all saw what happened to Waterford HC within 2-3 years they went from having 3 teams (1 in Div 1) to having no team at all.
I have my doubts about Belvedere given Ashton’s experience a few years back of leaving Division 1. Those players who played on Saturday weren’t keen on playing on Sunday and Ashton’s first team evaporated.
One idea might be if the Munster Branch/Belvedere could do something with Fas to get a paid coach into the school in Ballincollig out of which Belvedere play and kickstart a school boys team. Overall though this must be a problem the world over and presumably the equivalents of the IHA must have various facts and plans of what has worked.
To their credit, Belvedere have been very active in addressing the current problem. They are holding an open day in October and will be inviting all the boys’ primary schools in the area and have also been actively looking for a coach to work in Colaiste Colm and recently secured the services of a Level 1 coach to take on the role, so hopefully things will start to move forward in Ballincollig for boys’ hockey.
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Might be nicer if Cath Inst B went up to Div 2 rather than remaining in Div 3. Now there are three mens divisions of 8, 7 and a lump of 11. Unlike Div 2 many Cork based teams in Div 3 don’t travel to Limerick so Cath Inst would have got more matches if they had gone to Div 2. Div 3 is generally less ambitious so the thought of going to Limerick and possibly getting hammered is a bit offputting. Cath Inst were 2nd in the Div 3 for the last few years so they are well capable of competing in the Division 2. Then again the thought of Limerick, Galway and Cath Inst in the one league might be just too much travelling for those in Div 2. Pity though, esp as Cath Inst do have a team in Div 1 and the more matches they can get the better.
I gather that the decision to leave Catholic Institute B in Div 3 was part of their vote to remain in Div 1. While they could obviously compete in Div 2, I think it was felt they’d be better served by having their seconds at a lower level and nurturing young players there. And that ‘lump of 11’ will be split into two divisions after Christmas – I can only presume this is due to the unpredictabiliy of the quality of the teams in Div 3&4 year-on-year.
It would be interesting to know whether Belvedere have a long term strategy to address their current problem, with regards to a devlopment/recruitment program for boys. Hopefully this drop to a lower division isn’t just a quick fix solution that will ultimately do more damage than good, seeing as they are losing a couple of their better, more experienced players. We all saw what happened to Waterford HC within 2-3 years they went from having 3 teams (1 in Div 1) to having no team at all.
I have my doubts about Belvedere given Ashton’s experience a few years back of leaving Division 1. Those players who played on Saturday weren’t keen on playing on Sunday and Ashton’s first team evaporated.
One idea might be if the Munster Branch/Belvedere could do something with Fas to get a paid coach into the school in Ballincollig out of which Belvedere play and kickstart a school boys team. Overall though this must be a problem the world over and presumably the equivalents of the IHA must have various facts and plans of what has worked.
To their credit, Belvedere have been very active in addressing the current problem. They are holding an open day in October and will be inviting all the boys’ primary schools in the area and have also been actively looking for a coach to work in Colaiste Colm and recently secured the services of a Level 1 coach to take on the role, so hopefully things will start to move forward in Ballincollig for boys’ hockey.