The favourites all emerged unscathed from Saturday’s Irish Senior Cup second round, Pegasus, Hermes-Monkstown and Pembroke Wanderers scoring 21 goals between them without reply as most of the Hockey League sides saw off their opponents from the provincial leagues with relative ease.
The one exception was the battle Trinity gave Loreto at Beaufort, the Leinster League Division One leaders losing just 2-1, but that was the closest the round came to producing an upset.
Steph Thompson and Alex Speers scored two apiece in an 8-0 win for Pegasus at Genesis, while Hayley O’Donnell helped herself to a hat-trick in Pembroke’s 7-0 defeat of Glenanne. Not for the first time this season, though, the individual top scorer from the weekend was Anna O’Flanagan who added another five to her tally in Hermes’ 6-0 win away to Banbridge.
Two more top-four Hockey League sides, Cork Harlequins and Ards, also advanced with away victories, the Munster side beating Belfast Harlequins 3-0 while Ards were 3-1 winners against Lurgan. The round’s tightest affair was between Queens and Ballymoney, the latter progressing on penalty strokes after a scoreless draw.
And in the battle of the 2013 and 2014 cup winners, UCD came from a goal down to beat Railway Union 2-1, Katie Mullan and Emma Russell getting their scores after Cecilia Joyce had given the home side the lead.
