Alexandra College's quest to retain the Leinster schoolgirl's Premier League looks set to become even tougher than their hard-fought victory last December as the 2009/10 competition takes in an enlarged format.
The league increases in entries from 16 to 18 with Sutton Park and Mount Temple stepping up from Senior One.
The league will now consist of two groups of nine - as opposed to the four groups of four format used in recent years - with schools playing the other sides in their group once. The top two in each pool's final standings then advance to the semi-final stages.
The groups are seeded with the quarter-finalists from last year in the first pot and the remaining eight schools in a second pot. Four teams from both pots were drawn into Group A with the remainder of schools placed into Group B.
There was a subsequent draw for groups between Sutton and Mount Temple to complete the draw. Seeding for the following season will be decided by league placings, adding an extra competitive edge to latter-season games.
The Hook will aim to provide a weekly update from each of the nine rounds of matches with the help of the school's coaches and team managers.
2009/10 Pools
Group A: Wesley College, Mount Sackville, Muckross Park, St Andrew's, Loreto Bray, Loreto Dalkey, Rathdown, Our Lady's Terenure, Mount Temple
Group B: Loreto Beaufort, Mount Anville, Alexandra College, Loreto Foxrock, High School, Holy Child Killiney, King's Hospital, St Gerards, Sutton Park
2 comments:
Great to see some of the minnow schools in leinster hockey gaining a place in the premier league, only worry being the short space of time these matches have to be played in
This is a great, a proper league system, well done.
Both groups look very tough and I am sure there will be some suprise results which will be great to improve all schools involved.
Well done to the Schools Girls Branch.
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