Glenanne draws a boost for Hermes

Glenanne are proving to be useful allies in Hermes' battle to win this season's Leinster Senior A League title. On Wednesday night they took a point off Old Alexandra in a 2-2 draw at Whitechurch and on Saturday, at Rathdown, they frustrated another of Hermes' challengers, Muckross, by equalising in the last minute to deny the defending champions a badly-needed victory.

Muckross were leading 2-1, with goals from Kathy Johnson and Trish McHugh, when Caroline O'Leary scored her second goal of the game to snatch a draw. Old Alexandra dropped two more points after their 0-0 draw with Pembroke Wanderers, a result that effectively ends their title challenge. Later in the afternoon a Jenny Burke hat-trick, which brings her league tally to 12 goals in 13 matches, gave Hermes a 3-0 victory over Trinity at Belfield, a win that gave them an overnight lead of 10 points at the top of the table, until Loreto brought it back to seven by beating Genesis 3-1 at Loughlinstown yesterday. Senior B leaders UCD had a 3-0 win over Aer Lingus, who were third, on Saturday while Corinthian kept up their challenge for promotion by beating Maids 2-0 at Grange Road. UCD are two points ahead of Corinthian with a game in hand.

UCC stretched their lead in the Munster Senior League at the weekend to two points with a 6-0 win over Harlequins II, with EJ Walsh scoring four of their goals. Church of Ireland led Harlequins I 2-0 at half-time yesterday but the league's second-placed team fought back for a 2-2 draw with goals from Karen O'Brien (penalty stroke) and Joyce Kehilly. Pegasus gave Queens University an afternoon they will want to forget in the Ulster Shield, beating the students 12-0 - Jeanette Turner scored four of the goals. Randalstown needed an extra-time winner from Jackie McWilliams to get past Collegians while North Down and Coleraine also made it through to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, in Cork Leinster won the under-16 Interprovincial title by beating Ulster 1-0 in the tournament decider on Saturday afternoon. Loreto Bray's Leah Spillane scored the winning goal, which gave her province a 100 per cent winning record in the championships. Ulster finished second, ahead of Connacht and deposed champions Munster.