With UCD and Hermes-Monkstown having already booked two of the four Champions Trophy slots and Cork Harlequins likely to take the third, the battle for the fourth qualifying place will heat up over the final month of the campaign.
Loreto, Pegasus, Railway Union and Ards are the teams in contention.
Loreto hold the advantage for now, sitting two points clear of Pegasus in fifth, four ahead of Railway and five clear of Ards, but all three of their rivals have a game in hand. Railway and Ards have two games over the weekend, Ards playing Belfast Harlequins tonight and Railway away to bottom club Ulster Elks on Saturday, before they meet on Sunday in a game that has the potential to knock one of them out of the race.
Pegasus revived their top four hopes last weekend with a 1-0 win away to Loreto, but they’ll do well to add another three points to their tally on Saturday with UCD their visitors at Queens.
Loreto, meanwhile, are away to a Pembroke Wanderers side locked in a relegation battle with Elks, Belfast Harlequins, third from bottom, having moved five points clear after beating both Pembroke and Elks last month.
The team that finishes bottom of the table will be relegated to their home province’s top division, while second bottom will go in to a play-off against the runner-up in the provincial play-offs.
Pembroke are currently a point ahead of Elks with four games to go, both teams with testing fixtures before they meet in the final game of the campaign next month. At the other end of the table, unbeaten Hermes-Monkstown travel to Cork to take on Harlequins.
Hockey League – Friday: Ards v Belfast Harlequins, Ards Park, 8.0. Saturday: Cork Harlequins v Hermes-Monkstown, Farmers Cross, 2.30; Ulster Elks v Railway Union, UUJ, 2.30; Pegasus v UCD, Queens, 4.0; Pembroke Wanderers v Loreto, Serpentine Avenue, 4.0. Sunday: Railway Union v Ards, Park Avenue, 12.0.
