WOMEN'S HOCKEY: ULSTER CLUBS will fill five of the quarter-final places in the ESB Irish Senior Cup after Lurgan, Ballymoney and Belfast Harlequins won their rescheduled second-round games on Saturday to join holders Pegasus and Ulster Elks in the last eight of the competition.

They will be joined in today’s draw by three Leinster sides, Railway Union, Corinthian and UCD who, having beaten Hermes in the first round, took another major scalp when they knocked out Loreto, the 2002 and 2003 cup winners.

Just as they did against Hermes, when they won 5-4 on penalty strokes after a 1-1 draw, the students held their nerve when strokes were again required after a scoreless draw at Beaufort, with Loreto converting just one of their attempts to UCD’s three. It was the second time this season Loreto went out of a cup competition on penalty strokes, having fallen to Bray in the Jacqui Potter Cup.

Goals were in abundance at Park Avenue where Railway survived an Old Alexandra comeback to win 4-3. Emma Smyth, Jean McDonnell and Kate Dillon had put Railway 3-0 up, a second McDonnell score making it 4-1 after Aoife Budd had pulled a goal back, but further scores from Budd and Laura McCoy reduced Railway’s lead to a single goal with eight minutes to go. They held on.

Having lost 5-0 away to Glenanne in the league six weeks ago Corinthian didn’t look a solid bet to advance when they were paired with the same opponents in the second round, but goals from Susie Geoffroy and Jemima Bartlet on Saturday helped them to a 2-1 win at Whitechurch.

There will be no repeat of 2007’s journey to the final for Pembroke Wanderers after they fell to Belfast Harlequins at Serpentine Avenue. Louisa Moore and Noelle Farrell levelled for Pembroke but Julie Getty’s hat-trick was enough to put the Ulster side through.

Ballymoney saw off the challenge of Munster’s last representative in the competition, beating Church of Ireland 4-0 at the Joey Dunlop Centre with goals from Julie Allison, Bridget Cleland, Nikki Park and Lynsey McVicker. They will be joined in the last eight by Lurgan, who beat Armagh 2-1.

Galway finished fourth out of six teams at the European Indoor Club Champions Challenge in Portugal yesterday, their 1-1 draw with Turkish opponents, added to Saturday’s 3-1 defeat of Welsh club Howardian, giving them four points. They finished ahead of Howardian on goal difference and a point clear of Serbian side Bask.