Men's Irish Senior Cup preview

Few home comforts for Leinster sides this weekend in the men's ISC as the league's top three all hit the road. Pembroke's is the biggest task, travelling to Garryduff to take on Cork C of I in one of three All-IHL clashes.

In the stand-out fixture of the round, Pembroke's quintet of internationals take on another side laden with Irish experience but are fretting over the availability of Ronan Gormley who had severe bruising on both his hands last weekend.

Conor and David Harte, as former Quins' men, will relish the trip while ace striker John Jermyn faces his former club mates. His shoot-out with Alan Sothern (pictured, above right) could be one of the features of a potentially high-scoring encounter.

For Rovers, they travel outside Dublin county limits for the fourth successive week though they have three wins in a row, capped by their impressive 5-2 victory at Lisnagarvey. Charlie Henderson is back in action after a January break while Gavin Bourke is nearing a return too.

Glenanne, meanwhile, will go into their tie with Ulster Podium Senior One champions North Down as clear favourites. Their defence withstood Instionians finest last week so will expect to have too much for a second-tier side.

On home turf, Fingal are still hopeful David Bane might make a comeback from a debilitating foot injury. He has yet to play in 2009 and, therefore, been unable to create an appetising link up with Derek O'Gorman. The Kilkenny-man is not yet back to full fitness but has shown glimpses of what he is capable of.

They host Cookstown at the airport whose defence of Iain Hughes, Euan Butler, Ian Hutchinson and Colin Donaldson held Alan Sothern at bay last week and their sand-based experience could stand to them.

Corinthian could be an interesting outside bet to do some damage in the competition. They play Railway Union in both sides first run-out of the ISC. The reds beat Railway 6-0 three weeks ago and subsequently racked up nine against UCD, with goals spread around eight players.

In Ulster, Lisnagarvey and Annadale face off at Hillsborough while Mossley and NICS do battle at the Glade. In the outstanding round one tie, Raphoe compete with Banbridge in Donegal for the right to play Cork Harlequins.

All matches, though, are likely to be subject to weather reviews on Friday s per IHA guidelines. Whitechurch Park was under three inches of snow on Wednesday night while Thursday night's weather reports around the greater Belfast area were not too positive.

Men's Irish Senior Cup (Saturday)

Round One: Raphoe vs Banbridge, 2.30pm, Royal and Prior

Round Two: Mossley vs NICS, 2.30pm, The Glade; Corinthian vs Railway Union, 1pm, Whitechurch Park; Lisnagarvey vs Annadale, 2.30pm, Hillsborough; Bangor vs Three Rock Rovers, 2.30pm, Bangor; North Down vs Glenanne, 2.30pm, Comber; Cork C of I vs Pembroke Wanderers, 2.30pm, Garryduff; Fingal vs Cookstown, 1.30pm, ALSAA