Has to be Hermes

HOCKEY: It's not quite an annual outing for cup holders Hermes but including Sunday's ESB Irish Senior Cup final (live on RTÉ 2, 2.05), they have reached the decider in the competition in seven of the last 10 years, winning three and losing three.

In contrast, opponents Old Alexandra haven't been in a final since 1998, when a rampant Pegasus, watched by the then newly installed Irish coach Riet Kuper, beat the Dublin club 5-0 at Belfield.

Alexandra's sole survivor from that game is Gillian O'Shea, scorer of one of the strokes that helped the club beat Ballymoney in the semi-finals, although another of the 1998 "old-girls" will be on the pitch on Sunday, umpire Carol Metchette.

With 10 points separating them in the league - 13 if Hermes win their game in hand - Alexandra very definitely go into the final as underdogs, with Hermes seeking to join Loreto (2003) and Muckross (1969) as the only Leinster clubs to retain the Irish Senior Cup in over 50 years.

Their 3-0 win over Trinity in the league earlier in the week left Hermes on course to win the Leinster first division title, with the Irish Junior Cup already secured following the seconds' victory last week over Lurgan.

And, just to strengthen the case for a Hermes win on Sunday, 11 of the squad already have cup winner's medals to their name, including Ireland captain Linda Caulfield and Caitriona Carey who, with Kristin Farrell, returned from international duty in Argentina this week (as did Alexandra's Zanya Dahl).

Alexandra, though, have carried the underdogs' tag with comfort so far in the competition, beating Pembroke Wanderers, who were then top of the table, 3-0 in the quarter-finals, before knocking out Ballymoney, last year's beaten finalists, in the semi-finals - their third away win against an Ulster side en route to the final.

While they lost to Hermes in the league a fortnight ago it was by the slimmest of margins (1-0), having already drawn with the league leaders back in October, making them just one of three clubs to take points off Hermes this season. And, of course, in Fred McDarby, Alexandra have a coach who has already won the cup, when his Loreto side beat Hermes in the 2002 final.

Form and experience, though, point to Hermes retaining the cup, but Alexandra, for whom Jan Perrin is the only fitness worry (she needed 10 stitches in her right hand after last week's game against Clontarf), have already defied the odds. European hockey, of course, is the prize for the winners.

HERMES: N King, K Brannelly, C Sullivan, C Carey, J Hodgins, J Osborne (capt), M Powers, C Devine, F Connery, J Burke, K Farrell, L Caulfield, A Mitchell, M Logue, D McDermott, A McCarthy. Coaches: R Wortmann and C Stewart. Manager: E Moran.

OLD ALEXANDRA: S Frey, K Whelan, L Dowling, B Luke, J Deacon, A M Cullen, Z Dahl, B Fitzgerald, K Hiles, A Bowers (capt), L McCoy, J Perrin, S O'Connor, A Flinn, G O'Shea, A Budd. Coaches: F McDarby and A Fortune. Manager: G O'Donnell.

IRISH SENIOR CUP FINAL (at Belfield): Sunday: Hermes v Old Alexandra, 2.15.

LEINSTER LEAGUE: Tomorrow: Division One: Clontarf v Pembroke Wanderers, Clontarf, 12.30; Three Rock v UCD, Grange Road, 12.30; Corinthian v Loreto, Whitechurch, 1.0. Division Two: Bray v Loreto III, Bray, 4.15; Hermes II v Old Alexandra II, Booterstown, 1.15; Diocesan v Pembroke Wanderers II, Donnybrook, 2.0; Corinthian II v Loreto II, Whitechurch, 3.45; Genesis v Glenanne, Belfield, 4.0.