Standing between Pegasus and their fourth successive All-Ireland title at Belfield next weekend will be three Leinster teams after each of the province's representatives at the quarter-final stage - Old Alexandra, Loreto and Hermes - came through their ties on Saturday to qualify for the final round-robin tournament.

Old Alexandra produced the result of the day, beating Cork Harlequins 2-1 at Farmers Cross to go through to the finals 4-2 on aggregate.

A fine display by the Alexandra defence and goalkeeper Rosita Wolfe restricted the Munster champions to a single goal late in the game, scored by Karen O'Brien, but by then Trish Conway had given the Leinster side the lead with a superb reverse stick strike before a Richelle Flanagan goal sealed the tie.

The defeat was a desperate blow to Munster hockey, which will now have no representative in the last-four stage, and to Harlequins who could have done with being involved next weekend as they prepare for their European Cup Winners Cup campaign in Vienna later this month.

Up north, Loreto - not for the first time this season - left their supporters in need of a lie-down after enduring a nail-biting conclusion to their game against Portadown.

Kate Lutton gave the Ulster league runners-up the lead after 17 minutes to level the tie (2-2) but Cathy McKean equalised two minutes later before Caitriona O'Kelly appeared to have sealed Loreto's passage to the finals when she put them 4-2 up on aggregate early in the second half.

After that? "They kept scoring on us," said O'Kelly who watched as Nadine Graham pulled a goal back for Portadown midway through the second half before Jill Orbinson made it 3-2 on the day (4-4 on aggregate) five minutes from time. Loreto held out, though, going through on away goals but conceding that they can hardly afford a similar lapse in concentration against Pegasus in their opening tie of the finals on Friday.

Hermes had the most comfortable of journeys to the finals. Already 4-0 up from their first leg against Ballymoney, they cruised through thanks to an excellent Jenny Burke hat-trick in the opening 11 minutes of the second leg at Belfield on Saturday. To their credit Ballymoney rallied to keep their opponents scoreless for the rest of the game, with Bridget McKeever scoring a consolation goal on 55 minutes.