Hook Hockey

No glitches as top three all win

Women’s Leinster Division One
Loreto 5 (Cathy McKean 3, Jessie McGirr, Rachel Keegan) Three Rock Ladies 1 (Julie Garvey)
A four-star second half performance saw Loreto keep up their outside hopes of the women’s division one title as Cathy McKean continued her spectacular form of late. Three Rock defended well prior to the break, giving up few chances while Eimear Fitzsimons made a couple of decent saves. McKean did put the Beaufort side ahead when Nikki Keegan turned over possession on halfway and let the former international free one-on-one. She rounded the goalkeeper and walked the ball in 16 minutes into the tie. But TRL responded and won a corner which Julie Garvey hit home. Loreto found their form in the second period, though, as Jessie McGirr finished off from Laura Delany’s neat assist. Rachel Keegan made it 3-1 before McKean scored twice more – nicking her hat-trick goal off Delany who did much of the build-up work.

Railway Union 9 (Kate Lloyd 4, Zara Delany 2, Cecelia Joyce, Emer Lucey, Karen Clarke) Corinthian 0
Railway continue to look the title part as they ran up their biggest win of the league campaign, Kate Lloyd notching another to go into double figures for the season as they had far too much in the tank for Corinthian. They stay two points clear of the pack with three rounds of matches to be played. With ties against Pembroke and TRL to come, it looks like their date with Hermes could act as a coronation of sorts in their bid for a third Leinster league title. They hit the front inside 30 seconds through Lloyd and it was plain sailing from then on.

Hermes 1 (Eimear Horan) Glenanne 0
Hermes bounced back into fourth place as they prospered from Old Alex’s inactivity as they just about held off the challenge of a gutsy Glenanne. They made life incredibly difficult throughout with Audrey McCormack, Lucy Small and Catherine Murray to the fore while the Glens sniffed a result late on, going all out for a point when they swapped out Susan Byrne for an extra outfielder in the last five minutes. It did not come off, however, as Eimear Horan’s 32nd minute strike was the game’s defining moment. She cracked home from the right edge of the circle from turnover ball on the 25. Beyond that, they were limited to half chances in a slightly scrappy tie.

Pembroke 2 (Sharon Carey, Anna O’Neill) UCD 3 (Jeamie Deacon, Caroline Hill, Deirdre Duke)
UCD struck twice in the closing 11 minutes for a vital win that keeps their title dream alive, denying Pembroke a big result that would have eased their relegation concerns. Sharon Carey opened the scoring with a good corner move back to the pusher-out. Indeed, Pembroke had earlier fired a warning shot from a similar move with the deflection move clearing the crossbar. Jeamie Deacon – UCD’s key influence throughout – levelled on her reverse from a corner but the students were behind once more when Anna O’Neill snapped up a rebound. Emma Kielthy created it as UCD stood off, allowing her the time to move forward and into the circle and shoot the first phase chance, 2-1 at half-time. That is how it stayed until the 59th minute but the students’ legs held the strongest and Deirdre Duke created for Caroline Hill to level and, three minutes from time, Duke was the scorer from a corner with a neat corner deflection.

Trinity vs Old Alex – postponed
Santry was deemed unplayable, leading to the postponement of this tie. A report had been sent to the Leinster Branch about the condition of the pitch in the wake of the Trinity-Railway tie a week earlier as algae growing in a corner caused a series of slips. A request was made to clean this issue but was not possible in the interim, leading the umpires to call off the game prior to tip-off on health and safety grounds.

Electric Ireland Irish Junior Cup, quarter-finals:
Hermes took full advantage of their reinstatement in the Irish Junior Cup as they nabbed a 2-0 victory over Pegasus to make it three Leinster sides through to the semi-final stages. Division Two leaders Loreto were aided by former international Caitriona Tipping who was on the scoresheet along with stalwart Sarah Scott and Phoebe Lyons in a 3-0 win over 2010 champions Randalstown. Pembroke had a big win over Galway while Emma Dobson’s double put Cork C of I into the final four. Pembroke will host Hermes in the final four while Loreto play Cork C of I.

Results: Hermes 2 (Daragh Burke, Jane O’Brien) Pegasus 0; Pembroke Wanderers 4 (Louise Tolerton, Rachel McGrath, Eimear McCarthy, Joanne McDonnell) Galway 0; Cork Church of Ireland 2 (Emma Dobson 2) Bandon 0; Loreto 3 (Catriona Tipping, Sarah Scott, Phoebe Lyons) Randalstown 0
Semi-final draw: Pembroke vs Hermes; Loreto vs Cork C of I

** Deryck Vincent’s photos from the Irish Junior Cup tie between Hermes II and Pegasus II