Pegasus seek crucial win to step up their title challenge

While UCD visit Belfast Harlequins on Saturday seeking their eighth Hockey League win in a row, the two teams immediately below them, Cork Harlequins and Pegasus, also meet in Belfast.

While Cork, four points off the lead, need UCD to slip up over their remaining seven games if they are to have any hope of winning the title, Pegasus still have it within their control to overtake the defending champions, the teams scheduled to meet in Belfast on March 10th.

For now, Pegasus are five points behind the students with a game in hand, and they can move above Cork Harlequins if they get the better of them at Queens. The sides drew 1-1 when they met in Cork back in October, and if they maintain their form in this meeting, there shouldn’t be a whole lot between them again.

Railway Union, meanwhile, can tighten their grip on fourth place – which might be enough for Champions Trophy qualification – if they can take the points from their game at Park Avenue against Ards, who are two points behind them in fifth.

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Having beaten them 2-0 in the Irish Senior Cup last month, Loreto, in seventh, play bottom club Monkstown again, while Pembroke Wanderers and Trinity meet at Serpentine Avenue. Pembroke are third from bottom, three points clear of Trinity.

Hockey League – Saturday: Loreto v Monkstown, Beaufort, 1.30; Pembroke Wanderers v Trinity, Serpentine Avenue, 2.0; Belfast Harlequins v UCD, Deramore Park, 2.30; Pegasus v Cork Harlequins, Queens, 2.30; Railway Union v Ards, Park Avenue, 2.40.