HOCKEY: Both Loreto and Cork Harlequins have experienced the joy of winning the Sharwood's Irish Senior Cup in the past three years, both beating Hermes when they went into their finals as underdogs. This year the clubs will face each other in the final, on March 22nd, after beating Old Alexandra and Pembroke Wanderers, respectively, in Saturday's semi-finals.

Loreto's 2-1 win over Alexandra means they now have the chance to emulate what only one other Leinster club, Muckross, has done in the last 50 years - retain the Irish Senior Cup. The club also has the European Cup Winners' Cup, a Leinster Senior Cup semi-final, five league fixtures and, almost certainly, the All-Ireland Club Finals to look forward to. They'll have earned their rest come the second weekend in May.

A Cathy McKean goal four minutes from time gave Loreto a deserved win at Beaufort, a reversal of last week's result between the teams in the league, but it is one they were made to labour for in the face of a gutsy display by their opponents.

Over at Serpentine Avenue Cork Harlequins outplayed Pembroke for the bulk of their semi-final, taking the lead through Jane Chapell in the first half before Irish captain Rachael Kohler turned home Karen O'Brien's short corner strike in the second.

Jessie Morris scored a late consolation goal for Pembroke but the Munster champions held on for a deserved win. Quite who will prevail in the final is anyone's guess - the teams played each other twice last season, Loreto beat Harlequins 3-0 in the Irish Senior Cup semi-finals, Harlequins beat Loreto 5-2 in the league finals.

UCD helped complete a near perfect weekend for Loreto by holding Hermes to a 1-1 draw at Belfield in the league, with Dawn Kelly snatching a point for the leaders, who had what appeared to be a perfectly good goal disallowed, with a late equaliser.

In Ulster, meanwhile, Pegasus suffered their third defeat in four weeks, losing 1-0 to Belfast Harlequins in the league, a result that sees them drop to joint fourth in the table.