Nightmare weekend for some goalkeepers

Thirty seven goals in seven matches made it a weekend to forget for many of Leinster's senior hockey goalkeepers and their defences. Not least the hapless Avoca who were used as target practice by Railway Union on Saturday afternoon in their 11-0 Leinster Senior Cup defeat.

Railway's Rosie O'Reilly scored four of the 11, Mary Logue chipped in with two while Cathy McKean brought her season's tally to five in four games when she added a hat-trick. Old Alexandra also went on a scoring spree in the Cup, putting seven past Clontarf without reply - Trish Conway's hat-trick makes her the leading scorer in Leinster with seven in four games. Clontarf have now conceded 18 goals in their first three matches of the season and have yet to score.

UCD also progressed to the second round of the Leinster Senior Cup, with a 3-0 win over Maids, while a goal from Hazel Williams gave Diocesan a 2-1 victory over Muckross II.

In the Leinster League a Mary Barnwell hat-trick secured three points for Loreto in a 3-2 victory over Trinity at Belfield while second-half goals from Carol Devine, Jenny Burke and Daphne Sixsmith helped Hermes overturn a one-goal deficit to beat Pembroke Wanderers at the same venue. Muckross had a more comfortable afternoon at Rathdown, with two goals from Sarah Scott helping them to a 4-0 win over Genesis.

There was no shortage of goals either in the Munster Senior League where Harlequins scored eight against newly-promoted Lansdowne in Cork. Irish international Rachael Kohler was one of the Harlequins scorers.

Meanwhile the draw for the first round of the Sharwoods Irish Senior Cup was made yesterday. Last year's winners and beaten finalists, Hermes and Muckross respectively, are two of six teams given byes into the second round, while four of their Leinster League rivals - Pembroke Wanderers, Trinity, Glenanne and Railway Union - have been drawn away from home.