Women's Hockey/Round-up: After the drama of Saturday's Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals the competition is assured of a Leinster v Ulster final at Belfield on April 3rd after yesterday's semi-final draw produced all-Ulster (Ballymoney v Randalstown) and all-Leinster (Railway Union v Hermes) ties.
While Randalstown and Hermes cruised into the semi-finals, with relatively stress-free wins over Coleraine and Victorians, respectively, Ballymoney and Railway had to toil considerably harder for their victories.
It took extra-time to find a winner in the Ballymoney v Loreto game, when young Irish international Nicky McCaughern deflected home Susie Marchand's short corner shot seven minutes into the first period to give the Ulster side a 3-2 victory.
Loreto, though, had started the game brightly at the Joey Dunlop Centre, taking the lead after just 10 minutes through a Caitriona O'Kelly short corner strike, an advantage they held until the 58th minute.
By then the players had had to leave the pitch due to a hailstorm and when they returned Loreto's Orla Ryan found herself in trouble with the umpires, receiving a yellow card (and, thus, being "sin-binned") for what was deemed to be a bad tackle, and receiving a second yellow minutes after she came back on the pitch when she retaliated after an off-the-ball incident.
In Ryan's absence Loreto, down to 10 players, conceded an equaliser when Rachel Sutherland scored, from another penalty corner, and six minutes later Irish captain Lynsey McVicker put the home team in front. Cathy McKean, though, levelled for Loreto three minutes from time, sending the game into extra time.
Like Ballymoney, Railway had to come from behind to beat Old Alexandra, who took the lead through a Trish Conway penalty stroke after 19 minutes. Beth Maguire equalised before the break and, with just five minutes to go, Emma Smyth put Railway into the semi-finals when she deflected a corner past Nicky King.
Aoife Mitchell, Mary Logue and Jenny Burke gave Hermes a comfortable 3-0 win over Victorians while four goals in the second half sent Randalstown on their way to a 5-0 defeat of Coleraine - Clare Parkhill, Pamela Orr (two), Emma Clarke and Louise Burns got their goals.
