Pembroke rue postponement

A week ahead of their Irish Senior Cup semi-final away to Ballymoney, Pembroke Wanderers could have done with a game to finely tune their preparations for what will be the club's biggest day in recent years. A breakdown in communications on Saturday, however, put paid to those plans.

The Computershare Leinster Senior A game between Genesis and Pembroke, scheduled for Grange Road, had to be postponed when no umpires turned up for the fixture, resulting in the two sides having to resort to a friendly knock-about.

"It's a pity because we needed the game before playing Ballymoney, a tie that could make or break our season," said Pembroke coach Rudi Wortmann whose spies were up north where Ballymoney battled their way into the Ulster Shield semi-finals with a 2-1 win over UUJ in the quarter-final replay.

The other semi-finalists, Pegasus and Hermes, who meet in Belfast next Saturday, had more comfortable afternoons as they maintained their challenge for a clean sweep of the season's honours.

Claire McMahon, Arlene Boyles and Nadine Nicholl gave Pegasus a 3-0 half-time lead against Randalstown but their opponents proved more resilient in the second half, conceding just one more goal before replying with a late Pamela Orr effort. The win, allied to Portadown's scoreless draw with Ards, all but guarantees the Belfast club's successful defence of their league title.

Hermes, meanwhile, ran out 5-1 winners against Glenanne but Loreto, four points adrift with a game in hand, kept the pressure up with one of their best displays of the season. If UCD were the defending champions' bogey team, a 5-0 win - with goals from Cathy McKean (two), Nikki Symmons, Sarah O'Meara and Elaine Goddard - laid that ghost firmly to rest at Beaufort.

Trish Conway's hat-trick and two goals from Aisling Flynn helped Old Alexandra on their way to a 9-0 win over Muckross, whose only hope of Senior A survival, it would now appear, rests with two from Pembroke, Hermes and Loreto's second teams denying Corinthian a top-two finish in Senior B.

Two goals from Aine McNamara secured hosts Munster the Junior Interprovincial title in Garryduff yesterday with their 2-1 victory over holders South East leaving them with a 100 per cent winning record in the tournament, following wins over Ulster (1-0), Leinster (2-0) and Connacht (8-0).