News Archive

UCC to replace Belvedere in Munster Men's top tier

18 September 2008

Another change has taken place to the line-up Munster Division 2 for the coming season. UCC have moved up to Division 1 so therefore will not be meeting Galway this season in league fixtures. Fixtures and Tables on our website now reflect this.

The Munster Branch of the IHA last night confirmed that UCC are to take Belvedere’s place in Division One of the Munster Men’s Senior League.

The students’ proposal to move up from Division Two, first discussed last week, was unanimously approved, and solves a fixture headache in the process. Belvedere’s decision to voluntarily drop a division had left the top tier with just seven teams, creating an obvious problem with one team left without a fixture every week.

While the inclusion of College has alleviated that problem, doubts remain over whether they can be competitive in Division One given the yawning gap that already exists between the haves and have-nots in the league. College, who are coached by IHA chairman John Dennis, missed out on promotion at the tail end of last season, losing in a playoff against Bandon B 4-2.

While their female counterparts have benefitted in recent years from the migration of C of I and Quins players to the club, the men have soldiered on while dozens of interprovincial-standard players and the odd Irish international have passed through the college without ever representing the skull and crossbones.

Nonetheless, the return to Division One presents an interesting challenge to Dennis and his players, who will be out to prove they are worth their place at Munster hockey’s top table.

Source: Southern Fried - The Munster Hockey Blog