Unvanquished Pembroke Wanderers, having outflanked Glenanne (6-3) at Serpentine Avenue on Saturday, now seem as sure as Cork C of I and Harlequins of figuring in the all-Ireland play-offs. While Pembroke are poised to retain the Leinster title, five teams remain in the chase for the other two quarter-final berths.
Railway Union hold second place, followed by Avoca, with Corinthians and Glenanne still in the reckoning and Three Rock Rovers hanging in following their 2-1 win over Corinthians.
Rovers, if mellow on Saturday evening, admitted they were fortunate to take full points at Grange Road, where they needed to concede several yellow cards and depend on Shane Davy's agility to keep Corinthians at bay. Gordon Elliott snapped up the lead for the home side but Colin Stewart equalised with familiar verve and it needed a full thrust by Elliott and Angus Dunlop to create the winning touch by Christian Judd.
In contrast, Pembroke were seldom harassed by Glenanne who missed the exam-tied John Goulding at the start and were 2-0 in arrears within five minutes. Though the visitors did get back to 2-1 and 3-2, their defence could not cope with Wanderers on the break as Trevor Dunne helped himself to a hat-trick. A long pass by Francis de Rosa opened the way for a particularly good goal before the interval. Then, in a second-half onslaught, Dunne himself delivered a well-timed centre for Simon Kershaw to add to his collection as the team's leading poacher.
Railway Union again met tenacious resistance from Aer Lingus at Park Avenue before Stephen Moulton finally beat Ben McCabe following a short corner after the interval. Like the Rovers and Pembroke games, yellow cards were required as restraining measures and they were costly for Aer Lingus as a shortage of numbers allowed Teddy Lynch to come from the back to set up Railway's second goal from Brendan Parsons.
Avoca were in control against Monkstown at Rathdown where Paul Derham notched the first goal of his current sojourn in Dublin. Gallahad Goulet made it 2-0 but Monkstown, though missing Chris Beere after cracking two fingers in the Annadale cup match, replied before the finish through Brian Groves from a penalty stroke.
YMCA eased their relegation concerns with a 4-2 win at Kilkenny while in the second division, St James's Gate have taken over as leaders from Clontarf (held scoreless by UCD). There is also a challenge from Trinity while, equally, Portrane have not lost touch.
In Ulster, with Cliftonville going under 4-2 to Banbridge, the competition for the three all-Ireland places seems reduced to four teams - Instonians, Lisnagarvey, Annadale and Banbridge. Instonians are still undefeated in the bid to remains as champions, though it was a surprise that they conceded three goals to Cookstown on Saturday.
In Munster, Dave Eakins of Harlequins created something of a record in scoring from eight short corners against Waterford. Peter Horn of Avoca had set a target with a set-piece strike of seven in a Leinster Mills Cup tie in 1991.
