Instonians hold aces Men's

Hockey Irish Senior Cup final: There is a general view abroad that Cork Harlequins go into this televised Irish Senior Cup final with more raw talent available to them than their opponents, while Belfast's Instonians arrive with better discipline and organisation and a recent history of having had to tough it out more frequently against stronger teams in the Ulster league.

If anything, that regular diet of tough, tight matches against the likes of Annadale and Lisnagarvey will have given coach Paul Cooke's side a harder edge than Harlequins, whose only serious opposition domestically is Cork C of I.

Cooke, a veteran of the 1990 World Cup, will also have one or two match-winning players on his side, notably Chris Barnes and Mark Irwin, against whom Quinn's international goalkeeper, Wesley Bateman, will have to be at his sharpest.

Harlequins are recent to the scene at this level, having won their first senior trophy in 2002 with an All-Ireland Club Championship win.

Coming back from a 1-0 lead against Corinthians to draw 1-1 and win the round-robin finals showed some character and two years on, more maturity will have crept into the team that is hoping for their first Senior Cup win, having lost in last year's final against Lisnagarvey.

They've also shown that the scattering of senior international players, Bateman, Jason Black, David Eakins and Paul Lombard and under-21s John Hobbs and Seán Nicholson, have brought a useful contribution to the whole squad.

The Lisnagarvey defeat will also have hardened their resolve to come away this year with a win, come what may.

Interestingly, a coach from the English Hockey Association living in Charleville, Dave Passmore, has become involved with the club. Passmore has emphasised the technical aspect of the game to the players and is one of the reasons David Eakins is approaching the 40 mark for goals scored this season, probably 80 per cent of them arriving from a more streamlined short-corner routine.

But with the experience of players like Paddy Brown, still a dominant figure in the Instonians defence, the Ulster side probably step into the match as marginal favourites and will go into it hoping to snatch the first goal.

If they can achieve that aim, they can effectively shut up shop and frustrate the naturally attacking-oriented Harlequins players.

In that respect, it could be an interesting match, one of obvious contrasting styles, which will hopefully hook a television audience as well.

THE TEAMS

CORK HARLEQUINS: W Bateman; L D'Alton, P O'Driscoll, J Hobbs, P Chambers, S Nicholson, D Eakins, J Aherne, J Black, C Harte, D Egner, P Lombard, E Gash, D Lombard, C Daunt, M Black.

INSTONIANS: N Skillen; P Gleghorne, M Wainwright, S Reid, T taylor, C Barnes, A Cousins, M Irwin, G Currie, J Lewis, P Brown, N Cooke, A Lewis, M Gleghorne, J Burns, S Redpath.

Cork Harlequins v Instonians Sunday, Belfield, 3.00