Railway Union had a successful trip to Porto over the weekend, winning silver in the EuroHockey indoor challenge and earning promotion for Ireland to the B division of the competition.
Before losing 2-0 to Dundee Wanderers in Sunday’s final, Railway had taken three wins and a draw from their opening four games, victories over Portugal’s Grupo Desportivo do Viso and Swansea on Saturday putting them through to the decider.
Back home, Catholic Institute will have felt like they won gold when they produced the result of their Hockey League campaign so far, beating defending champions Pegasus 4-2 in Limerick.
Ella Armstrong levelled for the Belfast side after Christine O'Shea had given Institute an early lead, but by the middle of the final quarter the home team were 4-1 up, Laura Foley, Roisin Upton and Naomi Carroll getting their scores. Taite Doherty pulled one back for Pegasus, but Institute took the points and a memorable result in their debut Hockey League season.
Old Alexandra, meanwhile, made it four wins out of four since the campaign resumed after the winter break, their 2-0 defeat of Muckross, courtesy of goals from Jeamie Deacon and Millie O’Donnell, putting them top of the table, level on points with Pegasus, but with a game in hand and a superior goal difference.
While Pegasus have surrendered eight points since the League’s resumption, Loreto have dropped four from their last two games, UCD holding them to a 1-1 draw on Saturday when Hannah Matthews equalised with a penalty stroke after Sarah Young had given the students the lead.
Cork won the battle of the Harlequins at Farmers Cross, beating Belfast 2-1, Emily O’Leary getting the winner in the final quarter after Michelle Barry had levelled for Cork following Jenna Watt’s opener for the Ulster side.
Hockey League – Division One: Catholic Institute 4 (C O'Shea, L Foley, R Upton, N Carroll) ,Pegasus 2 (E Armstrong, T Doherty); Cork Harlequins 2 (M Barry, E O'Leary), Belfast Harlequins 1 (J Watt); Old Alexandra 2 (J Deacon, M O'Donnell), Muckross 0; UCD 1 (S Young), Loreto 1 (H Matthews).
Irish Junior Cup, semi-finals: Pembroke Wanderers 2 (R Scott, A de Jong), Monkstown 0; Pegasus 1 (R Murdock), Old Alexandra 1 (Y Rogers). Alexandra won 7-6 in a shoot-out.
