WITH every passing game it's looking more and more likely that Old Alexandra and Hermes' meeting on the final day of the season will determine the outcome of the race for the Statoil Leinster Senior A title.
On Saturday, Hermes all but put paid to Loreto's hopes of ending their 14-year wait for league success when they won their crunch game at Beaufort 2-0.
There was little to choose between the teams in the first half, but once Caitriona Carey broke the deadlock seven minutes in to the second period, Hermes took control of the game. Mary Logue, architect of the opening score, doubled the lead eight minutes later.
The win lifts the defending league champions to within a point of Old Alexandra, with just three games left to play. The potential title decider was originally scheduled for March 20th but it will have to be re-arranged, possibly for the next day, because Hermes' Jenny Burke will be in Dundee with the Irish under-16 team, to which she is assistant coach.
In Ulster, Pegasus received the league trophy after they made it 16 wins out of 16 against Enniskillen in Belfast. Coach David Scott had promised the team a day off training if they scored eight and they duly obliged, bringing their league goals' tally to 94. UCC's hopes of winning the Munster Senior title were boosted on Saturday when holders Harlequins, who missed a penalty stroke, were held to a 0-0 draw by Catholic Institute, while the students were beating Bandon 1-0 with a Johanna Hyland goal.
Harlequins responded well, however, in their second game of the weekend when they beat Belvedere 4-0 yesterday, with Karen O'Brien and Joyce Kehilly scoring two apiece.
Meanwhile, Church of Ireland's second team had a superb 2-1 win over favourites Pegasus II in the semi-finals of the Irish Junior Cup in Cork on Saturday, with left-back Claire Lawson scoring both their goals with short corner strikes in the first half. Goalkeeper Susan Carey saved a second-half penalty stroke to book her side a place in next month's final. There they will meet Our Lady's Terenure for whom Aoife O'Donnell scored a hat-trick in their 4-1 semi-final win over Diocesan in Dublin on Saturday.
