THERE can't have been many occasions in recent seasons when a team left Rathdown School disappointed with a draw but there was more than a hint of frustration in the Hermes camp ft they shared the spoils with Muckross in Saturday's Leinster League match.

The chief source of that frustration was the timing of the Muckross equaliser which came just four minutes from time and saved the defending champions from a rare defeat.

Jenny Burke had given the visitors the lead in the opening minutes of the first half when her shot from a short corner was deflected past Sandra O'Gorman into the Muckross net. Hermes had chances to add to that lead before the break but during the second half they found themselves under intense pressure as Muckross poured forward in search of an equaliser.

Captain Helen Kilroy, Roly Burke and Miriam Byrne produced admirable defensive displays to keep the Muckross attack at bay while goalkeeper Sarah Hilliard pulled off a string of superb saves. A flurry of penalty corners came to nothing and Hermes were within minutes of a memorable victory.

But, once again, it was the outstanding Mary Logue who came to the rescue when she was on hand to fire home after Hermes failed to clear a penalty corner. It was nothing more than the Irish international deserved after a tireless performance and at fulltime she was happy with the two points the team picked up for a score draw.

"Considering we were a goal down with only four minutes to go we're very relieved to get the draw," said Logue after the match. "I thought we showed great character to come back because it's unusual for us to go a goal down, especially that early in a match, so it was a fairly new experience for most of the players.

"Hermes played very well and worked really hard but we had a lot of chances and it was getting very frustrating out there - our penalty corners just weren't working at all," added the Irish international.

Meanwhile, Old Alexandra and Loreto made it two wins out of two on Saturday and are tied at the top of the table with six points each. After last week's 6-0 drubbing by Muckross Glennane tightened up considerably against Old Alexandra and almost held out for a point until Deirdre Deasy struck a late winner for the home team. A Mary Barnwell hat-trick helped Loreto to an easy victory over Maids who were playing their first league match of the season.

Newly-promoted Trinity College made a winning return to Section A, beating Clontarf 3-1 at Dardistown, while Pembroke and Railway Union collected their first points of the season when they drew 1-1 at Serpentine Avenue.