Women's Hockey: Pembroke Wanderers and Old Alexandra overcame spirited displays from Catholic Institute and Clontarf on Saturday to win though to the third round of the ESB Irish Senior Cup where they will be joined by Ards, Omagh and Lisnagarvey, all three Ulster sides winning their second-round ties.
Alexandra might have expected a more comfortable passage having been drawn at home to the bottom side in the Leinster first division, but an exceptional performance by Clontarf goalkeeper Fiona Dowling kept them at bay until the second half at Milltown when Kelly Whelan and Anya Bowers scored.
Pembroke, too, were made to work by Catholic Institute having taken a 3-1 lead midway through the second half when Aoife O'Gorman scored. A Cara Weldrick penalty stroke brought the Munster side back into the game but they failed to find an equaliser.
Omagh saw off Leinster visitors Corinthians, 4-1, while Ards beat Ballyclare 4-0 and Lisnagarvey edged Ashton, 2-1. The weather forced the postponement the Armagh and UCD tie - it has been rescheduled for December 11th.
Railway Union lost ground in the Leinster first division when they drew against Three Rock. EJ Walsh scored for Three Rock late in the second half and Railway equalised through Kate Dillon two minutes from time.
Loreto, who will be without Cathy McKean until after Christmas (knee injury), climbed to third in the table on Saturday with a 9-0 drubbing of Trinity - Catherine Murray and Nikki Symmons scored hat-tricks - and the students suffered another heavy defeat yesterday, losing 5-0 to Alexandra.
Pegasus maintained their winning run in the Ulster league, beating Victorians 5-0, but have learnt their Irish midfielder Jill Orbinson will be ineligible to play for them in all but Ulster Shield matches this season. The player was unaware by playing for Dutch club Push, where she had a brief spell, after November 1st she could not, according to European Hockey Federation rules, then represent another "top-flight" club in the same season.
