Women's Hockey: When they lost the services of four key players - Aoife Pomeroy, Sarah Rand, Rachel Brophy and Sarah Scott - at the end of last season and also had to do without Nikki Symmons, Cathy McKean and Orla Ryan for varying spells while they were on international duty, Loreto, surely, can't have expected this season to have reached the heights that it has.

But, on Saturday, they beat Genesis 6-0 to win their first Leinster League title since 2000, in coach Siobhan Keogh's first season in charge.

With one game to go, against Corinthian, Loreto are unbeaten in 17 league fixtures, a source of considerable pride for Keogh who acknowledges that there was little to choose this season between the top five, Loreto, Old Alexandra, Hermes, Pembroke Wanderers and Corinthian.

"We haven't always played well but there was a 'refuse to lose' spirit about the team and maybe that was the difference in the end," said Keogh. "The attitude has been great, the commitment and work-rate fantastic, we've had our share of luck but we also have a group of very talented players.

"Effectively we had five new players this season, with Wendy Byrne and Therese O'Keeffe stepping up from the seconds and Jessica Lynch, Sinead Walsh and Ann-Marie Cullen coming in. It's over 40 years since the club did the Leinster league and cup double and all five have played a huge part in that - our next goal is to make it through to the club finals. After that we'll think about Europe." (Loreto play in the Cup Winners' Cup in Amsterdam at Easter).

Remarkably, all six Loreto goals came in the second half, five of them from short corners, with Cathy McKean (two), Sarah O'Meara, Nikki Keegan, Nicky Lyons and Caitriona O'Kelly getting on the scoresheet. By then Hermes, chasing their fourth title in a row, had needed a late equaliser from Deirdre McDermott to draw 2-2 with Pembroke, in a game they had to win to keep the pressure on Loreto.