THE ELECTRIC Ireland Men’s Irish Hockey League finals take centre stage in Lisnagarvey this weekend with a clear north-south divide.

The way the teams are matched means Sunday’s final will have a Leinster team facing an Ulster team at the Hillsborough venue.

YMCA face Monkstown in the first match on Saturday with both sides hoping to salvage a trophy from their season’s endeavour. Monkstown have had a few misses but YMCA qualified top of Pool B with wins over Annadale, Pembroke Wanderers and Three Rock Rovers and go into the weekend with confidence.

Both sides have had their fair share of injuries over the past few months but came through the last matches in the pool emphatically, with Monkstown advancing to the finals weekend at the expense of Harlequins (4-1) and YMCA beating Rovers 5-1.

Marcus Rischardson and Johnny Bruton grabbed two goals each for YM in the last run-out with Richard Sykes, as ever, burying two corners against Rovers.

Ulster Premier League champions Cookstown qualified for the semi-finals by finishing top of Pool A, winning three of their matches and drawing two.

Ireland’s youngest player in the recent Olympic qualifiers, Ian Sloan, is on target with Cookstown to win the award for most goals scored in the tournament along with team-mate Greg Allen. Sloan has seven goals with Allen in joint second place on five along with Glenanne’s Jonathan Kane and Instonians’ William Robinson.

Lisnagarvey finished second in Pool B with wins over YMCA, Cork CofI, Annadale and Three Rock Rovers as well a draw with Pembroke.

Irish international Timmy Cockram will lead the attack. The Irish striker has hit four goals making ’Garvey and Cookstown well represented at the top of the goal-scoring table. ’Garvy are also in line for the double as they face Railway Union in the Irish Senior Cup semi-final next weekend in Belfield.

FIXTURES – Saturday: Men's IHL semi-finals (Hillsborough):YMCA v Monkstown 1:15; Cookstown v Lisnagarvey 3:30. Sunday (Hillsborough): IHL final: 4.0.