In a quiet weekend of hockey around Leinster, only men's division one and three see much action this weekend while there are only two ladies matches, all told.
On the men's side, there are two high profile matches with Glenanne hosting Monkstown and Fingal welcoming Pembroke to ALSAA - all four coming off the back of IHL experiences last time out.
The corresponding fixture last season saw an understrength Glens - due to the international players enforced rest period - lose to an inspired Town effort. The loss effectively ended their title bid so a modicum of revenge may be on their minds. Since then, the sides have met in the Neville Cup. That one went Glenanne's way in Rathdown 3-2 while a preseason friendly saw the Town go 3-0 up before losing 4-3. Basically, expect a tight and exciting match.
Both sides can pick their international stars for the game as the Irish Super Camp gets underway on Saturday evening.
Fingal, meanwhile, host Pembroke at the airport. Both are unbeaten locally this season with Pembroke seemingly warming up to the season after a serious lack of fixtures. Their win over Harlequins has them in decent shape and Alan Sothern has scored in every game so far. For Fingal, Adrian Sweeney has acheived the same feat.YMCA's tie with UCD - after a bit of debate over its rearrangement - have had their game postponed due to the intervarsities and the students potentially playing seven games in four days. Varsities gets underway in Kilkenny on Sunday.
Both teams initially agreed to postpone the fixture but the date offered in its place fell outside the Leinster Branch's 15-day rule for refixes. As a result, the date has been set at November 4.
Railway will look to get off the mark against Corinthian, though both clubs may be slightly affected by the involvement of junior players in the All-Ireland schools. Corinthian have shown some good improvements of late. Railway, for their part, have fought well against Three Rock and Glenanne for little reward and will need to summon that energy to pick up points this weekend.
On the women's side, the big match is at Serpentine Avenue with two of last season's title contenders go head-to-head. Just a point separates the two sides currently and both were IHL winners last weekend. Loreto host Scott Crombie's Corinthian side at Beaufort.
Men's Division One:Three Rock Rovers vs Kilkenny, 2pm, Grange Road
Railway Union vs Corinthian, 1pm, Park Avenue
Glenanne vs Monkstown, 1.30pm, Glenanne Park
Fingal vs Pembroke Wanderers, 1.30pm, ALSAA
Ladies Division One:
Loreto v Corinthian, 12pm, Beaufort School
Pembroke Wanderers v Hermes, 1.30pm, Serpentine Avenue
6 comments:
Monkstown will probably be missing a couple of players after Andrews made the final of the All-Irelands
Alsaa pitch will not do Pembroke any favours!!! Could make for an interesting match for viewing but v frustrating for PW.
Can we please stop talking about the famous 'ALSAA' pitch?
It's possibly a hindirance. Get over it. Please stop. Now
Why stop when it is a relevant point?It's worse than a grit pitch and in my opinion shouldnt be allowed!!
in no way should any leinster division one games be allowed to be played on a surface like ALSAA,Fingal should look to play their games on another pitch if they cannot afford to replace the current pitch.
Ok, its not a great pitch but having spoken to a number of Fingal lads and coaches, I think they all want a better pitch.
But to say they should not be allowed to host games is ridiculous if we want to develop the game. North dublin should be a potential growth area for the game, especially with the increased population to come in the next few years in Swords.
We need a club functioning and playing at the top level there. Rather than throw comments that they should be banned from playing at home, we should look at how to help improve the situation.
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