Goals galore as Loreto Kilkenny forced to final replay

The scoreline is not an error - there really were 13 goals but no winner as the Loreto Kilkenny and Ursuline Thurles played out a thrilling draw in the junior All-Ireland camogie final.

A sensational first half, in which they were inspired by Aisling Browne, Rachel Dowling and Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh had the Loreto purring at half-time, but a strong finish from the Tipp school - their last four scores were goals - left the sides facing a replay.

The Loreto started with the wind in Johnstown and made it count, racing into a 2-4 to 1-1 lead after 15 minutes thanks to goals from Keher-Murtagh and Dowling. The Ursuline fought back with some big scores from Maria Ralph and Andrea Quirke, but when Anna Doheny’s speculative strike hit the net it meant the city school were 3-7 to 2-4 up at the break.

Ursuline hopes of a comeback took a hit when Dowling pounced for another goal seconds after the restart. They never gave in, but looked to be heading for defeat when two more Keher-Murtagh goals left them well behind with little over 10 minutes to play (6-10 to 3-6).

What happened next was a miraculous finale. The Tipp school threw everything into attack and began to reel their rivals in. Subs Ava Bevans (2) and Clodagh Ryan plundered goals in quick succession, leaving three points between the sides (6-10 to 6-7).

The Loreto held on for dear life, and looked to have survived when they still led in injury-time, but when Caoimhe Stakelum hit the net with literally the last act of the game the Ursuline were back on level terms.

The sides will do it all over again in the replay, with the date to be finalised.

See next week’s Kilkenny People for full match report.

SCORERS

Loreto: Rachel Dowling (2-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45); Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh (3-1); Anna Doheny (1-0); Lisa Kirby (0-2); Tara McGrath, Aisling Browne (0-1 each).

Ursuline: Sarah Corcoran (1-5, 0-4 frees); Ava Bevans (2-0); Maria Ralph (1-2); Andrea Quirke, Clodagh Ryan, Caoimhe Stakelum (1-0 each).