EY Hockey League preview: Pembroke aim to extend winning streak at home to UCD

After racking up their seventh EY Hockey League win on the trot last weekend to maintain their five point lead at the top of the table, Pembroke Wanders will be on the hunt for an eight-in-a-row on Saturday when they host UCD at Serpentine Avenue.

On the face of it, with a 13 point gap between the teams, it should be a straightforward enough task for the leaders, but as the division’s top scorers this season, UCD will bring plenty of firepower into the game, not least - if they’ve recovered from their midweek exertions - from their Irish representatives, two of whom, Katherine Egan and Sarah McAuley, were among the goals in Ireland’s 4-0 and 3-0 training camp wins over France in Antibes.

It will be interesting to see if UCD can trouble the tightest defence in the League, Pembroke conceding just six in their 11 games so far in their quest to win their first ever Hockey League title.

Catholic Institute haven’t been short of goals this season either, only UCD scoring more, and the Limerick side will expect that threat to yield them three points from their visit to Grange Road where they’ll take on second-from-bottom Muckross.

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Third-placed Pegasus, meanwhile, meet fourth-placed Railway Union at Queens, while Loreto, in seventh, host fifth-placed Old Alexandra, a key game for both clubs if they are to boost their hopes of a top six finish and a spot in the play-offs for a place in the last four of the Champions Trophy - for which only the top two in the table automatically qualify.

At the other end of the table, Cork Harlequins are in desperate need of their first win of the season when they host Belfast Harlequins who are five points above them, with Muckross sandwiched in between. Two teams will be automatically relegated this season.

Meanwhile, the Irish under-21 team has been drawn in a group with England, hosts South Africa and Ukraine for April’s Junior World Cup group. The tournament, which had been scheduled to take place last November, had to be rearranged after the withdrawal of Belgium, Spain and Japan.

Saturday - Hockey League, Division One

Cork Harlequins v Belfast Harlequins, Farmers’ Cross, 2.45; Loreto v Old Alexandra, Beaufort, 1.30; Muckross v Catholic Institute, Grange Road, 1.0, Pegasus v Railway Union, Queens, 2.30; Pembroke Wanderers v UCD, Serpentine Avenue, 2.45.