WOMEN'S HOCKEY: With four of the top five teams in Leinster's division one playing each other tomorrow afternoon, the contest for a pre-Christmas top three place - one that would guarantee at least a play-off in April for qualification to the All-Ireland Club Championship quarter-finals - is intensifying.
Leaders Pembroke Wanderers play third-placed UCD at Belfield, while Hermes (second) meet Loreto (fifth) at Beaufort.
Meanwhile, if Old Alexandra can make it four wins in a row when they play Corinthian at Milltown their top-three ambitions will be significantly boosted. Ivan Ovington's team is fourth in the table, but level on points with UCD and Loreto, and, along with UCD, they have a game in hand on the rest of the top five.
Alexandra's last league win came against Loreto, who need to bounce back against Hermes. They are likely, though, to be without the injured Aoife Pomeroy and Sarah Rand. But Cathy McKean, recovering from the knee ligament injury that ruled her out of Ireland's World Cup squad, is expected to play. Hermes have their own injury worries, with Dawn Kelly and Jill Hodgins doubtful.
If results go the way of Genesis tomorrow, with the three teams above them losing, they could leap to as high as third in the table. They must first, though, overcome Trinity in Bray, where the students will be looking for their first point of the season.
Elsewhere, Railway Union can put a four-point gap between them and bottom place in the table if they take the points against Glenanne at Tallaght.
In Leinster's division two, leaders Three Rock and Clontarf, who have both won their five games to date, meet at Dardistown. Hermes II will be somewhat understaffed when they play Pembroke Wanderers II, with two of their players, Maureen Flavin and Vicki McDonnell, otherwise engaged in New York this weekend where they will line up alongside Sonia O'Sullivan in the marathon. Only one has a realistic chance of victory, though, according to Hermes II sources: it will, after all, be Flavin's third 26-mile jog around the Big Apple. McDonnell and O'Sullivan are the debutantes.
Network Two's Sport Monthly programme (tomorrow, 2.30) will feature highlights from the recent International Atlantic Cup in Virginia where Ireland reached the final, losing in extra-time to the US.
LEINSTER LEAGUE - Tomorrow - Division One: Loreto v Hermes, Beaufort, 12.30; UCD v Pembroke Wanderers, Belfield, 1.0; Old Alexandra v Corinthian, Milltown, 1.15; Glenanne v Railway Union, Tallaght, 3.0; Genesis v Trinity, Bray, 3.30. Division Two: Our Lady's v Aer Lingus, Terenure, 1.0; Loreto v Genesis, Beaufort, 2.0; Old Alexandra II v Corinthian II, Milltown, 2.30; Clontarf v Three Rock, Dardistown, 2.0; Pembroke Wanderers II v Hermes II, Ballsbridge, 3.30. Sunday - Division One: Trinity v Corinthian, Santry, 3.0.
MUNSTER LEAGUE - Division One: Harlequins v Belvedere, Farmers Cross, 12.0; Univ of Limerick v Church of Ireland, UL, 1.0.
ULSTER SENIOR LEAGUE - Section One: Pegasus v Belfast Harlequins, Queen's, 2.30; Coleraine v Randalstown, UUC, 2.30.
ULSTER SHIELD - Second Round: North Down v Ballymoney, Comber Leisure Centre, 1.0; Knock v Ballymena, Queen's, 2.30.
