Railway Union claim bonus point

WOMEN'S HOCKEY:THE SCHEDULE of matches for the second round of the women's Irish Hockey League might have proved more weather resistant than that of their male counterparts at the weekend, with four of the six games going ahead, but Pegasus' and Ballymoney's trips to Dublin proved to be in vain after frozen pitches at Beaufort and Belfield resulted in the postponement of their games against Loreto and UCD.

Railway Union's meeting with Randalstown at Park Avenue on Saturday evening was the only Dublin fixture to survive the freeze, coach Mick McKinnon surely warmed, in the bitter cold, by the performance produced by his young Railway side.

Player-of-the-match Cecelia Joyce was at the centre of much of the Leinster Division One leaders' best work, the cricket international hitting the crossbar after six minutes, going on to score a hat-trick, as well as creating another goal.

It was Randalstown, though, who took the lead a minute in to the second quarter, Judith Atkinson finishing off a swift counter-attack, but two short-corner strikes from Joyce gave the home side a half-time lead.

Kate McKenna, Emma Smyth and Jean McDonnell, along with Joyce, gave the Ulster side a torrid time after the break, McKenna making it 3-1 with a reverse stick shot, Smyth stretching the lead with a fine solo effort and McDonnell using her pace to burst through the Randalstown to make it 5-1. Grace Watters briefly reduced the arrears but Joyce then completed her hat-trick, Railway's bonus point taking them to the top of Pool A.

A 5-1 win over Church of Ireland, with Kellie Thornton scoring three of their goals, keeps Belfast Harlequins' hopes of a semi-final place alive, but when Loreto and Pegasus resume action in January they are likely to be the teams battling it out with Railway at the top of the table.

Hermes made it two wins out of two in Pool B with a 2-0 defeat of Armagh, Jenny Kinch and Gillian Pinder getting their goals in the 57th and 59th minutes. Kinch converted a short corner to break the deadlock before Pinder slotted home Anna O'Flanagan's cross from the right to seal the points and deny Armagh a bonus point.

Cork Harlequins moved up to second in the pool with a 1-0 win over Pembroke Wanderers, Karen Bateman getting the decisive goal on 27 minutes when her effort from a short corner deflected off a defender and looped in to the goal. Fine goalkeeping from Jane Coyne denied Harlequins a second, thereby ensuring Pembroke at least took a bonus point from the game.