Cookstown and Queen's declared winners despite incomplete season
- Published
Cookstown celebrate their Anderson Cup success in 2017
Cookstown men and Queen's women have been declared Ulster Hockey champions despite the season not being completed because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Following the direction from the Hockey Ireland board a percentage equalisation method has been implemented to determine the provincial leagues
When the season was suspended in March Cookstown and Queens both had 100% records.
They earned 14 wins from 14 games played in the Premier Leagues.
While they only held three-point leads over Kilkeel and Ards respectively, once the percentage equalisation method was applied both teams were awarded their titles.
In the men's league Kilkeel were runners-up with Instonians in third place, just as they were when play was stopped.
Lurgan move up
But in the women's league Lurgan Ladies moved above Ballymoney and into third place behind Queens and Ards, based on the percentage of points gained from the total points available from games played being higher than that of the County Antrim side.
Relegation was also decided using the same method. Usually only one side would be relegated from the Premier League and one promoted, with a play-off between the side finishing 11th in the senior league and second in the league below to decide the other team that gains a place in the Premier League.
With no play-off possible because of the current situation it was decided that two teams would go down with two promoted.
In the men's league Ballynahinch and Bangor have been relegated and are replaced by Intermediate League champions Belfast Harlequins and NICS.
Armagh Ladies won the Women's Senior League 1 and along with Ballymena will replace Mossley and Rainey in the Premier League.
None of these decisions were altered by applying the percentage equalisation method although Bangor men and Mossley women have been denied the opportunity to maintain their top division status via the play-off.
Last month the top-flight of the sport in Ireland, the Irish Hockey League, was declared null and void after Hockey Ireland decided there were too many games remaining to determine a final ranking but the decision was taken to allow the provincial branches to complete their seasons using this method.