Cloud nine - Loreto Kilkenny are All-Ireland champs again!

It was a day to remember for the Loreto Kilkenny senior camogie team as they clinched a record-breaking ninth All-Ireland title on Saturday.

The girls from the Granges Road moved to the top of the roll of honour as they beat the Ursuline Thurles in Rathdowney.

The winners were quick off the mark, with early points from Sarah Kehoe - played in by a neat handpass from Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh - and Rachel Dowling (free).

Lucy Purcell scored Ursuline’s first point in the seventh minute after a lovely one-two with Sarah Corcoran but, over the following six minutes, Loreto added four points through Rachel Dowling (two frees and two from play) to take a first grip on the game.

Their control of the fray got even stronger when, in the 15th minute, they landed their first goal. Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh broke the defensive line and made her way towards the Ursuline goal. Working the sliotar on Ciara Dunne shot at goal, but netminder Orla Ryan blocked it out. Tara McGrath was quickest to the ball, tapping it into the net to put Loreto 1-6 to 0-1 ahead.

Caoimhe Stakelum stopped the rot with a pointed free in the 16th minute for the Ursuline, but Aisling Browne added a point for Loreto after a one-two with Tara McGrath.

The Ursuline scored two points from play through Robbyn Fitzgerald and Caoimhe Stakelum, but the Loreto finished the scoring when Tara McGrath picked off a lovely point after Caoimhe Keher Murtagh had flicked the sliotar off Sarah Corcoran’s hurl and into McGrath’s hand. At half-time the Kilkenny girls were 1-8 to 0-4 in front.

The Loreto showed they were in no mood to let up when, on the resumption of play, midfielder Sarah Kehoe stormed towards the Ursuline goal and laid off a pass to Rachel Dowling, who slotted the sliotar over the bar.

However, the Ursuline were determined to fight their way back into the game. Over the next three minutes they scored 1-1 through Ava Bevans, the goal coming after Maria Ralph had taken a shot towards the Loreto goal. The sliotar was dribbling towards the line, but Bevans was quickest to tap it into the net, making it a four point game (1-9 to 1-5).

Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh steadied the Loreto with a great point from play on 38 minutes, a score which was cancelled out by a Caoimhe Stakelum free. Worse was to come for the Kilkenny side as, not long after, Bevans struck again when she fired a rocket-like shot past Ali Kennedy in the Loreto goal.

That strike meant there was only a point in it. With 20 minutes to go it looked like the Ursuline had the upper hand but that goal from Bevans was their last score of the match.

The Loreto didn’t panic, and set about restoring their advantage. Rachel Dowling converted a 42nd minute free after Keher-Murtagh had been brought down. It was a vital score and settled the Loreto.

They pressed on again, Dowling adding a 45 after Tara McGrath’s shot was deflected out by Orla Ryan in the Ursuline goal. She converted another 45 in the 53rd minute, stretching the Loreto out to four points (1-13 to 2-6).

The Kilkenny side kicked on and were rewarded when the hard-working Ciara Dunne finally got a goal for all her efforts. With five minutes left to play Emily Smith played the sliotar forward - Dunne lifted it and weaved her way around the defence and slotted it past the Ursuline goalkeeper.

Dowling hit over her 10th point, which was the Loreto’s insurance score, when she struck a lovely point off her left side three minutes into injury-time. Shortly after the referee blew the full-time whistle, leaving the Loreto Kilkenny winners on a 2-14 to 2-6 scoreline.

Loreto are now top of the table with their ninth title (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023, 2024) going ahead of St Raphael’s Loughrea and St Mary’s Charleville

Teams and scorers

Loreto Kilkenny - Rachel Dowling (0-10, 0-3 frees, 0-3 45); Tara McGrath (1-1); Ciara Dunne (1-0); Sarah Kehoe, Aisling Browne, Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh (0-1 each).

Ursuline Thurles – Ava Bevans (2-1); Caoimhe Stakelum (0-3, 0-2 frees); Lucy Purcell, Robbyn Fitzgerald (0-1 each).

Loreto Kilkenny – Ali Kennedy (Windgap); Marie O’Keeffe (Young Irelands), Angela Carroll (Dicksboro), Orlaith Kirwan (Thomastown); Emma Corr (Clara, captain), Anna Doheny (Tullaroan), Emily Smith (James Stephens); Ambar Laherty (Mullinavat), Sarah Kehoe (Mount Leinster Rangers); Rachel Dowling (Dicksboro), Caoimhe Keher-Murtagh (Rower-Inistioge), Aisling Browne (Dicksboro); Aoife Shealy (O’Loughlin Gaels), Ciara Dunne (Tullaroan), Tara McGrath (Dicksboro).

Subs: Julie Lennon (Young Irelands) for Shealy; Eleanor Doheny (Tullaroan) for Laherty, Louisa Gilmore (Danesfort) for Kehoe (inj); Isabelle Egan (Dicksboro), Isabelle Fahy (Dicksboro), Abbie Gibbons (The Harps, Durrow), Lisa Kirby (The Harps, Durrow), Jenna Larkin (James Stephens), Isabel Roberts (Dicksboro), Sinead Carroll (Dicksboro), Aoibhin Deegan (Dicksboro), Sarah Keher (John Lockes), Ellen Murphy (Rower Inistioge), Jessica Smith (Barrow Rangers), Ayesha Belalaoui (Dicksboro), Lucy Boyd (Clara), Grace Brennan (Tullaroan), Ona Kennedy (Windgap), Siofra Kennedy (Conahy Shamrocks), Aoife Kirby (The Harps, Durrow), Shauna Mahony (Danesfort), Shannon Doheny (Tullaroan), Muireann Kenny (Rower Inistioge), Eva Tynan (Dicksboro).

Ursuline Thurles – Orla Ryan; Rachel Phelan (Emeralds), Alison Fitzgerald, Caoimhe Fitzgibbon; Aoife Bourke (joint captain), Aoife Kavanagh (Emeralds), Paula Quirke; Danielle Ryan, Sarah Corcoran; Kate Ferncombe (joint captain), Robbyn Fitzgerald,  Lucy Purcell; Caoimhe Stakelum, Maria Ralph, Ava Bevans.

Subs: Clodagh Ryan for Ralph, Isabelle Carr, Tara Gleeson (Emeralds), Andrea Quirke, Ella Minogue (St Brigid’s), Anna Wynne, Sarah Quinlan, Moya Brennan (St Anne’s), Miah Bourke, Kate Stakelum, Ashling O’Loughlin (St Anne’s), Laragh Griffin, Roisin Duffy, Hazel Ryan, Margaret McGrath, Grainne O’Loughlin (St Anne’s), Michelle Slattery, Aine Power, Kate Marnane, Niamh Lanigan, Clodagh Gleeson (Emeralds), Emma Hickey (Emeralds), Emma Ely, Aoife McCormack (St Anne’s), Alisha Kearney, Roisin Ferncombe.

Referee – David Copps (Cork).