Fingal

Last Season: 6th; IHL group stages

Coach: Gerry Wheeler (1st season, second spell)
Captain: David Bane

Players In: Gary Sharman, Tom Manning, Stephen Thompson, Hugh Kelly, Mark Sandell (all Kilkenny)
Players Out: Mick McGuinness (Glenanne), Brian Scully (Weston), Keith Crawford

Summary: Like Corinthian, the first three games should paint the picture of what lies in store for 2009/10, facing the reds, YM and Rovers all of whom are likely to be jockeying for IHL positions.

The quintet of new faces brings the Kilkenny contingent at the club up to ten though Tom Manning and Derek O’Gorman are currently tied up in the county’s inter hurling championship with Dicksboro which could run to early October.

Mark Ryan will continue to progress in his second year of senior hockey but the losses of Scully and McGuinness are significant ones. The former’s terrier-like tackling and the latter’s drag-flicks are hard to replace and they might find themselves slip a notch further down the standings.

First three games: Corinthian (a); YMCA (h); TRR (h)
Prediction: 7th