Logue's late strike seals title

WOMEN'S HOCKEY/Weekend preview: She's scored an important goal or two in her time but, for sheer drama, Mary Logue's equaliser against Loreto on Wednesday night, three minutes from the end of the title decider, would be hard to beat. The goal gave Hermes their third Leinster League title in a row, their fifth in six years, but they can hardly have had a more gratifying or hard-earned league success, considering the difficulties they faced this season.

In all Hermes, coached by Peter Darley, had to use a remarkable 26 players through the campaign, some of them schoolgirls or veterans who thought their first team hockey days were long since gone.

Tara Browne, Linda Caulfield and Daphne Sixsmith didn't return from international duty until mid-January while their fourth World Cup player, Jenny Burke (who is still in Australia), hasn't played all season.

Caitriona Carey was unavailable, due to work commitments, for the bulk of the campaign, while Aisling Keane, Jill Hodgins, Dawn Kelly and Jenny Osborne, to name but four, all struggled at various stages with injury. And, to cap it all, Johanna Hyland and EJ Walsh both left the club last summer.

"Considering all that," said Fiona Connery, Hermes co-captain (with Carol Devine), "this has to be our most satisfying league win. We were really up against it from the start, missing so many players, so to hold off Loreto, an excellent team, says a lot for the spirit in the club. And who else would it be but Mary Logue to win it for us?"

Considering, too, that this was the most competitive Leinster season in recent memory - last season there were 20 points between the first and fifth teams, this season that gap narrowed to just eight - the fact that Hermes went through the 18-game campaign unbeaten is a tribute to their resilience.

Rumours of their demise after their 4-1 Irish Cup third round defeat by Belfast Harlequins in January seemed to be well-grounded at the time, but, as the team proved, they were a touch exaggerated.

And who do Hermes meet in the All-Ireland club quarter-finals? Belfast Harlequins, as luck would have it. Who Loreto will meet will be determined by the result of Old Alexandra's "top three" Leinster play-off against Pembroke Wanderers tomorrow - if Alexandra, who finished second in Division One, win they will play Ards and Loreto will meet Cork Harlequins (in a repeat of the Irish Cup final); if Pembroke win they will play Cork Harlequins and Loreto will face Ards, the Ulster League runners-up.

Ulster champions Pegasus will meet the winners of tomorrow's preliminary game between Bandon (Munster runners-up) and Galway (Connacht champions).

Pegasus II, meanwhile, will attempt to go one better in the Odlums Irish Junior Cup final at Belfield tomorrow when they meet Three Rock. Pegasus lost last year's final to Hermes II while Three Rock, who last won the cup in 1975, were losers in 2001 to Enniscorthy.

With the experience of Hilda Beamish, Joanne Campbell and Michelle Rainey to call upon Pegasus II should be favourites in the final but Three Rock's morale will be high after winning the Leinster Senior B title and promotion to the first division.

Because of the clash with the Irish Junior Cup final Pegasus II are unable to defend the Irish Junior League finals' title they won in Garryduff last year - their place has been taken in the tournament by Belfast Harlequins II.

Hermes II and Church of Ireland II, who both lost out on goal difference last year, Wexford and Yeats County complete the line-up.

IRISH JUNIOR CUP FINAL (at Belfield) - Tomorrow: Pegasus II v Three Rock, 12.0.

PEGASUS II: S Richardson, J Perry, H Beamish, D Hood, J Campbell, R Patterson, J Ingram, M Rainey (capt), J McKnight, J Dowds, E Adair, N Reid, A Crompton, C Mills-Rabbitt, Z Willis, D Dowey. Coach: Erika Henry.

THREE ROCK: K Cassidy, H Boyd, S Gray, J Thompson (capt), J Reynolds, M Lyons, P Jenkins, E J Walsh, N Byrne, E J Cassidy, S A O'Connor, G Black, J Roulston, N Squire, B Charmont, L Watson. Coach: David Acheson.

ALL-IRELAND JUNIOR LEAGUE FINALS (at Sligo Regional Sports Centre) - Tomorrow: Yeats County v Hermes II, 9.30; Church of Ireland II v Wexford, 11.0; Belfast Harlequins II v Hermes II, 12.30; Yeats County v Wexford, 2.0; Church of Ireland II v Belfast Harlequins II, 3.30.

Sunday: Wexford v Belfast Harlequins II, 9.0; Hermes II v Church of Ireland II 10.30; Yeats County v Belfast Harlequins II, 12.0; Hermes II v Wexford, 1.30; Yeats County v Church of Ireland II, 3.0.

ALL-IRELAND CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP - Preliminary round: Bandon v Galway, Univ of Limerick, 2.0.

LEINSTER LEAGUE - Top three decider: Pembroke Wanderers v Old Alexandra, Beaufort, 2.0.