Cookstown could go eight points clear at the top of the Men’s Premier League as they host Bangor today.
The current leaders have been in brilliant form this season and could make an immediate return to the EYHL.
Last week goals from Gregg Allen (2), Ryan Millar and Michael Kerr secured a 4-2 win against Belfast Harlequins with the side having now won their last five fixtures.
Today’s opponents have had an inconsistent start to the season and find themselves seventh in the table, but are the only team to beat Cookstown this season.
A 2-1 victory in Mid-Ulster in October was Bangor’s first win of the campaign and since then they have earned a number of impressive wins.
They also come into today’s game in off the back of a win against Belfast Harlequins. Having played the Deramore Park side mid-week, the County Down side sealed a 2-1 home win to set up today’s fixture.
In Lisburn, last season’s top two go head-to-head when Queen’s University travel to face South Antrim.
The students are the reigning champions of the division but currently find themselves sixth in the table and out of this year’s title race.
After a poor start to the season, they have picked up in recent weeks with wins over NICS, Raphoe and Portadown.
Their upturn of form has also seen an individual purple patch for Conor Irwin who is the sides top scorer with seven goals this campaign.
Meanwhile, South Antrim will be hopeful of capitalising on any Cookstown slip-up with a win at Friends School Lisburn.
Currently second in the table and five points off the league leaders a win today could see them reduce the gap to just two points.
The third game of the day sees bottom of the table Raphoe continue their search for their first win of the season when they host Kilkeel.
The County Donegal side have found it tough in the Premier League following their promotion last year and have just two points from their eleven games.
Opponents don’t come much harder in the division than the side they face today with Kilkeel third in the table and one of the highest-scoring sides this season.
To get anything from the fixture Raphoe will have to find a way to stop Luke Russell. The forward leads the goalscoring charts with 15 goals in 2023/24 whilst teammate David Rae has nine.
There are two other games in the league today with Belfast Harlequins travelling to North Down and NICS taking on Portadown at Edenvilla
Photo: Front Row Union
