Monkstown rely on 12th man, Three Rock go top

HOCKEY:THERE WERE only two Leinster First Division fixtures at the weekend, but between them they produced 14 goals, eight scored by Loreto in their victory over struggling Corinthian at Beaufort.

In Saturday's other game, Pembroke Wanderers and Hermes drew 3-3 at Serpentine Avenue.

Corinthian, yet to pick up a point, found themselves 3-0 down at half-time through goals from Nikki Keegan, Cathy McKean and Liz Colvin, the former Armagh player who has impressed since joining Loreto for the new campaign. Clinical finishing and some superb passing yielded five more goals in the second half, with McKean completing a hat-trick.

Pembroke and Hermes produced a thriller, and Pembroke's display once again suggesting that predictions they would struggle this season were somewhat wide of the mark.

They took a two-goal lead against the reigning champions through Shona Doyle and Aoife O'Gorman, but Linda Caulfield narrowed the deficit before the break. Hermes appeared to have completed a stirring comeback when Nicola Evans levelled two minutes in to the second half and Aoife Mitchell put them 3-2 up, but Louisa Moore snatched a point for the home side with a goal eight minutes from time.

McKean gets hat-trick as Loreto rout Corinthian

THEY WILL need to play better when they start their Euro League campaign in France next weekend, but despite an under-par performance against Kilkenny on Saturday Three Rock Rovers moved clear at the top of the Leinster First Division after a goal in each half from Phelie Maguire and Lucas Piccioli gave them the points at Grange Road.

The liveliest encounter of the weekend, though, proved to be the entertaining meeting of Glenanne and Monkstown, when confusion over substitutions and a player returning from the sinbin resulted in Monkstown, briefly, having 12 players on the pitch.

They finished the game with just nine, but held out for a point, weathering intense late Glenanne pressure.

Before then a Stephen Butler short corner had given the home side the lead, but Monkstown levelled through Gareth Watkins in the second half.

Fingal, meanwhile, bounced back from their 6-2 defeat by Cork Harlequins in the Irish Hockey League to take a point from their game against Pembroke Wanderers on Saturday. Adrian Sweeney equalised with just seven minutes to go, having trailed to a first-half Alan Sothern goal.

Teenager Jeffrey Spillane got the goal that gave Railway Union their first win of the season against Corinthian at Park Avenue.