Irish Weekend games

This weekend sees plenty of action taking place. Two of last weekends scheduled Men’s Irish Senior Cups will kick off at 1pm in Ulster when Mossley host Annadale and Instonians take on Banbridge, Instonians will also be the venue for the men’s Quarter final draw which will take place after the match. In the ESB Irish Junior Cup Loreto II will also make the trip once again to play Belfast Harlequins after the game was postponed due to weather conditions last Saturday. Other ESB Irish Cup action sees the Trophy move to the quarter final stages (fixtures listed below)

Elsewhere at the NBA in Tallaght, the qualified men’s & women’s teams will take to the indoor arena to play in the finals weekend on Saturday and Sunday. The winner of which will go on to represent Ireland in next year’s Indoor European Competition. The men’s side of things pits Pembroke W; Three Rock Rovers; Clontarf; YMCA; Monkstown; Railway Union; Avoca and Glenanne against each other. While the six women’s teams are made up of Galway, Loreto; Hermes; Old Alex; Railway Union and UCD. (fixtures list listed below)

As a result of the indoor this week sees only one game in the Men’s Leinster Division One. Nevertheless the game that remains is important for both teams involved, but for very different reasons. Corinthian will be hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table, while UCD will surely take anything from this game in their fight against relegation. League position would suggest that this should be an easy three points for Corinthians, who will be aiming to open up a four point gap over their nearest rivals, Pembroke Wanderers. However, UCD have looked stronger this season under new coach John McInroy, only narrowly losing their last two games against Pembroke and YMCA, and will hope to make Corinthian work just as hard for the points at St. Columbus. The indoor has had the same knock on effect on the Leinster Ladies side of things with one lone outdoor fixture between Pembroke Wanderers and Glenanne , which will be a crucial game for both as they struggle to claw their way out of the relegations zone in eighth and ninth place respectively.

Munster’s league programme is not so quite and It’s a busy weekend on the men’s front this weekend with all Division One teams in action. Bandon will be looking to continue their good form when they welcome Church of Ireland B to Bandon Grammar. Bandon put five past ‘Quins B last week and no doubt Edgar Rice will be the man to watch at short corner time. ‘Quins B themselves will take on UCC at Farmers Cross in what is a reversed fixture due to the recent flood damage to the Mardyke. These two played out a cracker of a draw in the opening game of the season; ‘Quins found the equaliser in the 3-3 battle in the last minute of the game. This looks set to be the game of the weekend as UCC will be out for revenge.

Church of Ireland A host Catholic Institute at Garryduff. While Institute have shown massive progress, their fitness is a major concern in the latter stages of the game. CofI A should have no problems securing all three points here. On Sunday, UCC will again visit Farmers Cross, this time to take on ‘Quins A. ‘Quins are suffering a poor run of form at the moment and this, coupled with their growing injury list, could be Colleges best chance to claim some points from them. However, ‘Quins still have some quality players at their disposal so it will be down to how the two teams perform on the day.

On the Munster Ladies side of things, there are only two women’s games on the card this weekend. Basement team UL welcome Bandon and Waterford are set to entertain CofI. Bandon are still on a high from beating Harlequins a fortnight ago and should have no trouble overcoming the struggling UL side. The same should be the case in Waterford; especially given CofI will be giving their all to close up the gap at the top of the table having lost to Catholic Institute at home last week.

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