Catholic Institute retain their crown

WOMEN'S HOCKEY:THEY HAD to wait until April of last season to end Cork Harlequins' 15-year grip on the Munster title but Catholic Institute have managed to complete the defence of their crown before the end of January, their 2-0 victory over Harlequins at Rosbrien on Saturday sealing their success.

The Limerick club still have three games to play, but with nine wins out of nine – with 50 goals scored and just three conceded – they cannot be caught by Harlequins, who are 10 points behind.

Railway Union made an already tight Leinster title race even closer when they inflicted on UCD their first league defeat of the campaign. It all started brightly for the students at Park Avenue, Jeamie Deacon giving them the lead after three minutes, but Railway – without internationals Alex Speers, Emma Smyth and Nikki Evans, all on duty in South Africa – fought back through goals from Zara Delany and Isobel Joyce.

The students had dropped points in just one of their nine games – when they drew with Railway in their opening tie. This defeat sees them lose top spot. They have a game in hand on Railway, who are two points clear. A frozen pitch deprived Loreto of the chance to go second, their tie against Corinthian postponed.

In Johannesburg, Ireland need to bounce back from successive 1-0 defeats – to Belgium in a warm-up match on Friday and to the hosts in the opening game of the Tri-Nations tournament on Saturday – when they play the Belgians again today. Pietie Coetzee decided Saturday’s game in the sixth minute with one of her legendary penalty corner drag flicks.