Monkstown geared up for semi-finals against Harlequins

Champions Trophy preview

Saturday – Semi-finals: Loreto v UCD, 10.30; Cork Harlequins v Hermes-Monkstown, 12.30.

Sunday – Final, 2.30.

For Monkstown, the artists formerly known as Hermes, it’s been a frustrating season so far with no silverware to show for their considerable efforts.

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UCD proved to be their nemesis in both the Irish Senior Cup, beating them on penalty strokes in the quarter-finals before going on to win the competition, and Hockey League, when a late winner in the final game of the campaign snatched the title from Monkstown’s grasp.

The students, then, go into this weekend’s Champions Trophy seeking a clean sweep of the season’s major honours, while Monkstown will look to end their campaign on a silverware-winning high by successfully defending the title they won by beating Pegasus in last year’s final.

Close affairs

Cork Harlequins and Loreto, though, stand between both sides and a place in Sunday’s decider, and while they finished a distant third and fourth, respectively, behind the top two in the Hockey League table, they showed more than enough in their head-to-heads to suggest that Saturday’s semi-finals should be close affairs.

Harlequins ran Monkstown close in both their Hockey League meetings, losing to a last-minute Nikki Evans goal in November before going down 4-3 in March, having trailed by three goals. Two of those goals were scored by the prolific Anna O’Flanagan who, while included in the Monkstown squad, remains a doubt for the weekend having suffered concussion in her last outing against UCD.

And Loreto, who meet UCD in the first of Saturday’s games, were just one of three teams to take points from the students in their unbeaten campaign when they drew back in September, and only a late goal from Orla Patton denied them another draw with the eventual champions when they met in February.

The odds, then, might favour a Monkstown v UCD final on Sunday, but both Harlequins and Loreto will believe they’re capable of upsetting the form book.