Muckross now lead by five points

MUCKROSS increased their lead in the Leinster League to five points after defeating Loreto 3-0 on Saturday at Rathdown.

Irish McHugh opened Muckross's account in the 20th minute with a goal from a short corner. Mary Logue increased the lead 10 seconds before half time and Kate Johnson sealed Loreto's fate with a third goal early in the second half.

Muckross's acting coach Trevor Watkins, was delighted with his team's performance. "An impressive display," he said, but he felt the score sheet should have been higher. In fact, Muckross had two goals disallowed, one was offside and the other was too high entering the goal.

Wastage was the main cause of Muckross's relatively low tally. They had 12 short corners in the first half and it was their inability to stop the ball dead in the circle during the short corners which prevented them from capitalising on scoring opportunities.

Loreto had a tough task from the first blow of the whistle, they were missing three regular backs and two midfielders. Loreto did not help themselves, however, by constantly playing poor passes and by not utilising their free hits.

In contrast Muckross's passing and ball control was excellent and it was this fact which enabled them to overwhelm Loreto for 60 minutes.

The third and fourth placed Leinster League teams were also pitched against each other - Hermes beat Railway Union by a single goal and in the process displaced Railway Union from third position in the League.

Roly Burke scored for Hermes from a short corner in the first half but constant pressure from both teams ensured the result was uncertain until the final whistle.

Katrina Carey illustrated why she was chosen for the Irish under-18 squad last week, by an excellent performance on the right wing in the first half for Hermes. Her skill and intelligent play was a ray of light during a day of horrid weather conditions.

The Sharwood's Irish Senior Cup semi-final draw took place yesterday and holders Pegasus play Hermes while Muckross meet North Down. Both matches will be played in Dublin on February 3rd.