WOMEN'S HOCKEY/All-Ireland Club finals: Two years ago, when a defeat by Pegasus in the decider of the Club Championships consigned them to their fourth consecutive runners-up spot, Hermes must have begun to doubt whether they'd ever crack this tournament at all.
They finally did just that last year to become Irish champions for the first time, and they did it again yesterday, beating Old Alexandra 4-1 at Belfield. Aiden Kidney's team is, then, beginning to get the hang of it.
Their success means that they will be playing for "themselves" in Azerbaijan at the end of the month. And if they can win promotion from the B division in Baku they will play in the A division of the European Club Championships next season.
They only needed a draw yesterday, Alexandra had to win, but the bare statistics of the game - Hermes won 11 short corners to Alexandra's none, and Tara Browne was rarely troubled - don't quite tell the whole story. In fact, with 11 minutes to go, Alexandra hit the post when the score was 1-1, a let-off Hermes celebrated by scoring three goals in the final 10 minutes.
Suspected gastroenteritis had forced Caitriona Carey to withdraw before the game, and Hermes had to endure further misfortune in the 25th minute when Jenny Burke hit a penalty stroke wide.
They responded well, though, with Jenny Osborne finishing off a smart short corner three minutes later, firing past Nikki King.
A complete loss of concentration, however, let Alexandra back in to the game inside a minute. Anya Bowers found herself unmarked in front of goal, with ample time to slot the ball past Browne. The Hermes defence wasn't as generous again, despite the best efforts of Bowers, Alexandra's greatest threat.
After surviving that 59th minute scare, when the post was hit after a scramble in the circle, Linda Caulfield all but sealed the title for Hermes, prompted by Mary Logue, nudging the ball past King following a burst from midfield.
Six minutes later Deirdre McDermott got a touch on a Burke corner strike to make it 3-1, before Osborne scored her second.
A 3-0 win over Loreto was enough to lift Pegasus above Alexandra, on goal difference, into second place.
