THE holders, St Mary's, have been drawn at home to Lansdowne in the premier tie of the Aluset Leinster Senior Cup first round, the draw for which was made in the Berkeley Court Hotel last night. Indeed it is the only first round pairing featuring two clubs from the AIL first division.
The remaining three first division clubs, Old Wesley, Old Belvedere and Blackrock College, have all been drawn at home to Clontarf, DLSP and Wanderers respectively. Last year's beaten finalists, Greystones, will also enjoy home advantage in their all second division tie with Bective Rangers.
The sole junior representatives, Seapoint, should not be overly intimidated by the prospect of visiting third division Monkstown. Nor will the sole Fourth Division club in the draw, Trinity, who must travel to Skerries. The Terenure-UCD pairing completes the eight ties, which will take place over the weekend of January 27th-28th.
The Leinster Cup, once the blue rib and of the club game in the province, has lost some its stature since the onset of the AIL, after which players were more interested in summer grazing than a provincial knock-out competition.
But it has regained some of its lustre in latter years, and this year's earlier start, at a time when the season is still in full flow, ought to heighten its appeal to players and public alike.
The first named clubs will have home advantage. Ties to take place on January 27th-28th.
The Irish under-21 side to play Scotland at Stradbrook on Friday, January 19th, shows two changes from the XV which beat their English counterparts. The Constitution scrum-half Brian O'Meara replaces Conor McGuiness, while the Bangor tight-head Glen Cully comes in for Peter Coyle. McGuiness was unavailable because of exams, as was his St Mary's team-mate Denis Rickie, whose place among the substitutes goes to Corinthians' Nigel Carolan. In a further amendment to the replacements, Damien Evans comes in for Andrew Bermingham.
