Old Alexandra's hopes of winning its first Leinster Senior A title since 1991 were boosted on Saturday when both its closest rivals dropped points, with Hermes being held to a 1-1 draw by Railway Union at Grange Road and Loreto losing 3-1 to Pembroke Wanderers at Serpentine Avenue.
Second half goals from Tracey Skoyles and Zanya Dahl gave Alexandra their ninth win of the season, from 11 games, against Genesis at Milltown and, surprisingly, that was enough for them to finish the day level on points with Hermes.
Before Saturday Railway, second from bottom on the table, had lost nine of their 12 matches and seemed on course for another defeat when their former player Carol Devine gave Hermes the lead after 20 minutes. The defending champions, though, failed to make the most of their 16 penalty corners and were punished two minutes from time when South African Terrilee Chelin scored from a rebound from Railway's second corner of the game.
If it proved to be a frustrating afternoon for Hermes it was no less exasperating for supporters of Loreto who missed a golden chance to open a six-point lead over Hermes and Alexandra. Sarah Scott had put the leaders ahead in the first half but three goals in the second period from Louise O'Hagan, Wendy Moffitt and Kathryn Henderson won Pembroke the points.
At the other end of the table Muckross and Glenanne had their first wins of the season, producing surprise results against Senior A's college teams. Ciara O'Connor and Anne Warden got the goals that gave Muckross a 21 victory over Trinity while a Sarah Carroll double helped Glenanne to a 3-0 win over UCD.
In Munster UCC and Church of Ireland's hopes of meeting Harlequins in an end-of-season title play-off remain alive after both had 3-0 wins on Saturday afternoon, beating Lansdowne and Bandon respectively.
