Men's Hockey: With the second week of the new hockey season upon us Glenanne and UCD will continue on a sad note due to the summer death of a club stalwart of both clubs, Colin Cunningham.
Colin began playing hockey with Navan, starting as an eight-year-old and then at school in Dundalk Grammar. He moved to Glenanne in 2001 and, following a long club tradition, was chosen for the Leinster under-16 team.
Graduating to the senior Glenanne side as a 17-year-old, he was a member of the team that won the Leinster Senior Cup in 2004.
Committed to the game, he used to take the train from Dundalk on Wednesday evenings, be picked up at Connolly station by team manager Paul Bastable and brought to training in Tallaght. He was then dropped back to the city centre by team captain Alan Browne and from there took the bus back home.
Earning a hockey scholarship to UCD last year, Colin had also started coaching and had been working with the Genesis ladies seconds until his tragic death earlier this year.
Undoubtedly, his fighting spirit will be missed as Glenanne face Three Rock Rovers in one of the two top games of the weekend, the other being Pembroke's meeting with Corinthian at Serpentine Avenue.
Both Rovers and Pembroke started with goals galore, Rovers scoring 10 against the hapless Railway Union and Pembroke handing Monkstown one of their worst defeats for some time, 7-0.
Glenanne's game against Rovers will be an early litmus test although far too early in the season to be definitive, while Corinthian's form against last season's club championship winners, Pembroke, will also be interesting. The Whitechurch side need to show now they can face up to a team packed with internationals and former internationals from a number of countries - Craig Fulton, Paddy Conlon, Justin Sherriff, Gordon Elliott etc - and realistically challenge.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
LEINSTER SENIOR LEAGUE - Tomorrow - Division One: Bray v Monkstown, 1.30pm, Bray; Glenanne v Three Rock Rovers, 4pm, Glenanne Park; Pembroke Wanderers v Corinthian, 2pm, Serpentine Avenue; Railway Union v Dublin University, Park Avenue TBA; Y.M.C.A. v Fingal, 1.30pm, Claremont Road, Division 2: Avoca v Kilkenny, 3.15pm, Newpark; Clontarf v Skerries, 2pm, Mount Temple; Naas v Suttonians, Naas Sports Centre TBA; UCD v PSBPP 1.pm, Belfield; Weston v Navan, Kings Hospital TBA.
