"WE'LL play a lot worse than that this season and win," was the verdict of the Loreto camp on Saturday after they dropped their first points of the season in a 1-0 defeat by Hermes at Belfield.
A bitterly disappointed Loreto coach, Noel Keogh, described his team's performance as "probably the best hockey we've played all season," but not even that was enough to break down the remarkable resistance of the Hermes defence, in particular the outstanding Helen Kilroy and Tara Browne.
`Thou shalt not pass,' was captain Kilroy's message to the Loreto attack for the afternoon and she repeatedly frustrated the efforts of Dearbhla O'Carroll and Caitriona O'Kelly with perfectly timed tackles. On another day the industry of the Loreto pair would have resulted in a hatful of goals but on the rare occasion that they got past Kilroy on Saturday, Hermes goalkeeper Browne proved unbeatable, pulling off a string of excellent saves.
The winning score came in a Loreto dominated first half when Hermes' Laura Daly turned a half chance into a goal ten minutes before the break. Loreto began the second half as they had ended the first, in complete control, but as Hermes grew in confidence it became a more even contest.
Still, at full time the statistics - made frustrating reading for Loreto - they had won eight short corners in the course of the game to Hermes' nil. Statistics, however, didn't bother player of the match Kilroy. "It was the first match we've played this season where we didn't get a short corner and we had so many against us - so it's very satisfying to win a game like that.
"The work rate in the second half was just brilliant, I couldn't fault any of our defenders. In the last ten minutes they were exhausted but every time the ball came in to the circle they got their stick to it - they were all crawling off the pitch at the end," said Kilroy.
It will be no consolation to Loreto but their defeat has helped set up the most open and exciting title chase in division one for years with four teams now in real contention. Not surprisingly, defending champions Muckross are amongst the quartet of challengers and they moved joint top of the table with Loreto after their 5-1 victory over Trinity at Rathdown School. After their hectic Chilean Cup schedule last week Trinity were a tired team, a condition not recommended when taking on the might of Muckross.
A Trish Conway hat trick helped Old Alexandra stay third in the table after crushing Maids 5-0 on Saturday while Railway Union recovered from their Irish Senior Cup mauling by Pegasus to collect only their second win of the season against Glenanne.
Meanwhile at Dardistown, UCC won their Irish Senior Cup replay with Clontarf, courtesy of a Jayne O'Brien goal, and now have a home second round meeting with Connacht's Yeats' County.
