After last weekend's surprise Irish Senior Cup defeat by Railway Union, UCD will expect to resume normal service tomorrow when they take on bottom-of-the-table North Kildare at Belfield, the students yet to drop a point in the Leinster first division, their opponents yet to collect one.

With breaks for the ISC and Irish Hockey League, the table has yet to take shape, the games played by the clubs so far ranging from four to seven, UCD with fixtures in hand on their three closest challengers.

Among them are third -placed Pembroke Wanderers who tomorrow face Hermes, two points behind them but with two games in hand. Loreto, in second, remain unbeaten in the league and should prove too strong for Corinthian while Railway, in fourth, will be wary of their opponents – Trinity having held them to a scoreless draw in their second game of the season.