Stephen Butler, preparing for the Irish Senior Cup men's hockey final.
Given the physicality and speed of men's hockey, it's strange that some people regard it as a girlie sport. "You get comments all the time," says Glenanne and Ireland midfielder Stephen Butler, one of our leading players. "I work with the sportswear company Canterbury, which specialises in rugby gear, so I get loads of stick from guys at work. But the slagging usually stops when people come to one of the games."
Butler started playing at Whitechurch National School in Rathfarnham, Dublin. "My dad was president of Glenanne, and my mum was the hockey teacher in Whitechurch. So I suppose it was inevitable that I would end up playing." After studying at DIT Aungier Street, Butler moved to Belgium, where he played professionally for two years. "I was playing with a team called Dragons. The sport is bigger over there, but, unlike soccer or rugby, you can't really make a decent living from it, and you still face retirement at 33 or 34."
Butler, who has 104 caps, counts next year's Olympic Games, in Beijing, as a major aim. "I started playing for Ireland when I was 11, at under-15, and got my first senior cap against Japan, when I was 18. It's a huge honour."
The week leading up to tomorrow's final has seen Butler balance a busy month's end as Canterbury's off-field manager with final preparations with Glenanne. "We had training every day, and weight training most mornings, so, on top of work, that's pretty intense."
Glenanne won the Men's Irish Senior Cup in 2001 and have played in three semifinals since. "It's a really big deal for us to get into the final again. Cup-final day is the biggest day in the domestic year, and we're hoping for a big crowd. We played Annadale in the quarter-finals last year. We beat them 1-0 in that game - a very tight score for hockey - so we expect the final to be equally tight." Glenanne play Annadale in the Men's Irish Senior Cup final at UCD tomorrow at 2.15pm; www.hockey.ie