The blanks on the honours list for the season are rapidly being filled in with Pegasus and Cork Harlequins retaining their Ulster and Munster titles on Saturday, following up NUIG's Connacht success of the week before. The battle for the Leinster crown, though, is still alive - but only just, after an exceptional comeback by Loreto in a thrilling game against Pembroke Wanderers yesterday.
With just three minutes to play Loreto were 2-1 down at Serpentine Avenue and were facing their first defeat of the league season. Sarah Rand had given Loreto the lead early in the second half but goals from Wendy Hobson and Kathryn Henderson seemed set to secure Pembroke a shock win. But, over the past year or two, Loreto have displayed a penchant for `leaving it late' and, so, probably regarded three minutes as heaps of time to score twice. After all, Mary Barnwell left it until three seconds to go to score the crucial winner against Old Alexandra in Loreto's penultimate fixture of last season.
Orla Ryan levelled the game yesterday, following the breakdown of a short corner in the 67th minute, before Aoife Pomeroy snatched the winner at the death, triggering off scenes of celebration that very nearly matched those of last April when they won their first Senior A title in 15 years. They have a week to return to earth, and Hermes, a point ahead, will hope to give them a bumpy landing - the teams meet at Belfield (at 4.30 next Saturday afternoon) in their second last fixture of the season. Corinthian moved ever closer to a place in Senior A when they beat Pembroke II 2-1 on Saturday, with a goal in each half from the prolific Cheryl Evans and Kathy Johnson. The win guarantees Roy Horsfield's team at least a promotion play-off game against Muckross, but if they can beat Loreto II next weekend they will be automatically promoted as champions. The University of Limerick capped a superb season by clinching second place in Munster's first division with a 4-0 win over Church of Ireland - they now go through to April 21st's All-Ireland Club Championships preliminary game against NUIG in Limerick. The winners of that tie face the uninviting prospect of meeting Pegasus in the quarter-finals, who retained their Ulster title by beating Coleraine on Saturday.
