Loreto's joint ownership of first place in the Leinster Senior A table proved short-lived after Old Alexandra moved three points clear at the top on Saturday afternoon with a 5-1 win over Pembroke Wanderers.
Pembroke trailed by just a goal at half-time, scored by Trish Conway, but two short-corner strikes in the second half from Tracey Skoyles, and further scores from Zanya Dahl and Hazel Agar, helped the leaders to their win. Alexandra are now seven points clear of Hermes, who beat Genesis 8-0 on Friday night, but the title holders still have two games in hand. The two teams meet on the final day of the season but, before then, Hermes must play Loreto and Muckross, while Alexandra's other remaining fixtures are against teams no higher than mid-table. Loreto, too, have a difficult run-in - they play Hermes and Muckross in the final three weeks of the season.
Elsewhere in Senior A, Orla Bell scored twice in a 5-0 win for Muckross over Railway Union at Rathdown while two goals apiece from Anya Bowers and Paula O'Donoghue resulted in a 2-2 draw between Trinity and Glenanne. In Senior B, Corinthians took full advantage of leaders Hermes II and UCD's scoreless draw at Belfield by beating Avoca 1-0, with a Trish McLoughlin goal, to go joint second in the table with UCD.
In Munster there were wins for the top three in the Senior League, with leaders Harlequins crushing Lansdowne 11-0. Johanna Hyland kept UCC in touch with the defending champions by poaching a late winner against Catholic Institute while the prolific Cathy Walsh scored again to send Church of Ireland on their way to a 2-0 victory over the University of Limerick.
