Late starters UCD must hit the ground running

HOCKEY: With five teams - UCD, Avoca, Monkstown, YMCA and Railway Union - yet to get off the mark, the bottom of the Leinster Senior League could be as interesting as the top this year.

Late starters UCD could have hoped for an easier beginning to their season than against the well-organised Aer Lingus, who have won their first two games. John McInerney's side are structured and have a speedy forward line. UCD will have to hit the ground running at Belfield.

Pembroke's match against Corinthians is the quality game of the weekend, with Corinthians anxious to show that their first defeat of the season was an aberration. Pembroke, without Justin Sherriff for the season, have scored seven goals and conceded none in two matches. They have the depth to cover for Sherriff in Leinster, but the club championships and Irish Senior Cups will be a different matter.

Sherriff and Glenanne's Stephen Butler, incidentally, are not the first to play on a professional contract outside Ireland. Gerard Butler was contracted to a division one club in Belgium, Royal Herakles, in 1996.

This year's wild geese have joined Royal Herakles rivals Dragons, and last weekend both players scored in their first game.

Avoca and Railway Union will see their meeting at Rathdown as one of their more important, both hungry for points early on, while Glenanne will be less than pleased if Monkstown destabilise their ambitions at St Mark's.

At Grange Road, Three Rock Rovers, on form, should beat YMCA, but as Corinthians felt last week, the Sandymount side could have made a better impression if their corner taking had fired.

SATURDAY

Leinster Senior League: Division One: Avoca v Railway Union, 1.45, Rathdown; Glenanne v Monkstown, 2.0, St Mark's; Pembroke Wanderers v Corinthians, 3.0, Serpentine Avenue; Three Rock Rovers v YMCA, 2.30, Grange Road; UCD v Aer Lingus, 1.0, Belfield. Division Two: Skerries v Weston, 12.0, Skerries; St Brendan's v Dublin University, 3.0, Phoenix Park; Naas v Portrane, 2.0, Naas; Clontarf v St James' Gate, 1.0, DCU; Suttonians v Bray, 10.0, Sutton.

TUESDAY

Neville Cup: Corinthians v Portrane, 8.0, Whitechurch Park.