An 8-1 victory over Corinthian in their opening game of the season last weekend put UCD where they finished the previous campaign: top of the division one table. Tomorrow, though, they’ll expect a significantly sterner challenge from a Hermes side looking to bounce back after losing their opener to Old Alexandra.

There's been plenty of player traffic between the two clubs over the years, international Gillian Pinder the most recent switch when she left Hermes for UCD in the summer, but another player to have appeared for both sides, Chloe Watkins, will be unavailable to the champions this season, her studies taking her to Spain. A fine start she had to her hockey life there too, scoring on her La Liga debut on Tuesday for Madrid's Club de Campo.

Two more of last season's top five, Alexandra and Loreto, also meet tomorrow, Loreto having opened with a 5-1 win over Glenanne, while Railway Union and Pembroke Wanderers will look to make it six points out of six when they take on Corinthian and North Kildare, respectively. Glenanne v Trinity, meanwhile, will try to get off the mark when they meet in Tallaght.

Starkly displayed
In Munster, the gap between the title contenders and the rest in the first division was starkly displayed by Catholic Institute's opening two results, 8-0 and 9-0 wins over Bandon and the University of Limerick, with defending champions Cork Harlequins, Church of Ireland and UCC all winning their opening games comfortably too.

In Ulster, Randalstown and Ards are the only sides to win their first two games, Ards play Pegasus tomorrow, the champions already having dropped points in a draw with Ulster Elks.