Booterstown hosts six-pointer

Women's HockeyWhile Corinthian, Clontarf and Genesis go in search of their first league wins of the season tomorrow the big clash of the weekend is the meeting of Hermes and Old Alexandra at Booterstown. Both teams are unbeaten after five games, level with Loreto on 13 points at the top of the table, ahead of a fixture that has that "six-pointer" look about it.

Only one point separated Hermes (third) and Alexandra (second) at the end of last season, with the teams cancelling each other out in their two meetings - Alexandra won 2-0 at Booterstown, Hermes won 2-0 at Milltown. Hermes, though, prevailed by 4-1 when the teams met in the decider of the club championships.

Loreto, meanwhile, will look to extend an extraordinary unbeaten run in the league that dates back to February of last year, one that has now stretched to 28 games.

Alexandra's Anya Bowers has the distinction of being the last player to score a winning league goal, in her team's 2-1 victory 20 months ago, against the Leinster champions, who have won 20 and drawn eight of their games since.

If Corinthian can rise to the challenge at Whitechurch and register their first win of the campaign they will end that unbeaten Loreto run, but Fred McDarby's team has so far struggled to produce the goals - they have scored just four in five games - even if they have proved solid at the back.

Railway Union, four points adrift of the top three, will hope to keep in touch with the leaders by beating Clontarf in Sandymount while Genesis will attempt to get themselves off the bottom of the table when they host Three Rock at Belfield.

Pembroke Wanderers and UCD, busy all week at the intervarsities in Cork, don't meet until Sunday.

In Ulster, Belfast Harlequins will have Irish international Jenny McDonough available for their league game against leaders Ballymoney, who are now the only unbeaten side in Section One following Harlequins' defeat by Pegasus last weekend.

McDonough is now based in London where she plays for Wimbledon but because the club is not in the Premier League, and unable to qualify for the European Club Championships, she is eligible to play for Harlequins. McDonough is home this weekend for Ulster training ahead of next month's interprovincial tournament in Dublin.

LEINSTER LEAGUE - Division One - Saturday: Hermes v Old Alexandra, Booterstown, 1.15; Railway Union v Clontarf, Sandymount, 3.0; Corinthian v Loreto, Whitechurch, 3.30; Genesis v Three Rock, Belfield, 4.15. Sunday: Pembroke Wanderers v UCD, Ballsbridge, 5.30. Division Two - Saturday: Pembroke Wanderers II v Muckross, Ballsbridge, 3.30; Diocesan v Hermes II, Rathgar, 2.0; Glenanne v Loreto II, Tallaght, 3.30.

MUNSTER LEAGUE - Division One - Saturday: Waterford v Church of Ireland, Newtown, 12.0. Sunday: UCC v Bandon, The Mardyke, 4.0.

ULSTER LEAGUE - Section One - Saturday: Belfast Harlequins v Ballymoney, Deramore, 1.0; Knock v Pegasus, Queens, 2.30; Victorians v Coleraine, Olympia Leisure Centre, 2.30.