Unmatched, Unmoved, Unbroken: Loughmore-Castleiney’s 12-Game March to History

Loughmore,the 12 Game Unbeaten Odyssey.

Two seasons, Twelve championship games, not a single defeat. Loughmore-Castleiney have put together one of the most commanding runs in modern Tipperary hurling, scoring almost 30 points a game and producing 20 different scorers along the way. They have retained the Dan Breen, become back-to-back champions for the first time in their history, and done it with a style that blends controlled possession, relentless work rate, and a belief that never breaks.

People say Loughmore will grind it out, but the numbers tell a sharper story. Twenty Three goals scored, just thirteen conceded, an average scoring difference of more than six points per match, and a scoring spread that stretches across every line of the field. This is not survival, this is orchestration. This is a team that controls tempo, controls space, and controls moments.

Loughmore-Castleiney by the Numbers

---

Round 1: Loughmore-Castleiney 4-21 Lorrha 1-17

This opener in Nenagh set the tone for the entire two-year run. Loughmore did not explode from the gate, but instead built rhythm through short hand-passing chains, using Brian McGrath as the pivot in the half-back line to release runners. Once they controlled the middle third, the scoring patterns began to unfold. Tommy Maher’s goal was the spark, taken with conviction after a cleanly engineered build-up from the right.

The second quarter was where the game was effectively won. Loughmore forced Lorrha into four wides in a row, all under contact, and punished each turnover with confident early ball to the inside trio. Liam McGrath and Liam Treacy struck their goals within minutes of each other, showing the timing of support runners that has become a hallmark of their attacking structure.

Ciaran McCormack’s sideline accuracy and John McGrath’s steadying frees ensured scoreboard pressure was constant. The fourth goal, late, underlined the squad depth when Ciaran McGrath entered and finished confidently. This was not a dramatic win, this was authority.

---

Round 2: Loughmore-Castleiney 0-21 Holycross-Ballycahill 0-14

The Ragg was heavy, greasy and swirling with crosswind, the sort of environment that turns most games into choppy sequences and second-ball battles. In those conditions, decision-making becomes more important than skill expression. And here, Noel McGrath produced one of his defining championship performances.

Loughmore did not force the tempo. They held width, retained shape, recycled possession, and waited for Holycross to reveal defensive gaps. Noel controlled the game by taking the extra touch only when needed, not as habit but as calculation. He moved markers around with body feints rather than speed, manipulating where the play took place.

Holycross had moments, but they never forced Loughmore into chase-mode. The scoring was spread, the wides were instructive rather than wasteful, and the defensive unit conceded only seven points from play. This was a masterclass in winning without tempo. It may not have been thrilling, but it showed Loughmore could shift into a lower gear and still stay in total command.

---

Round 3: Loughmore-Castleiney 2-20 Nenagh Éire Óg 1-22

This was the first time in the run where Loughmore’s resolve was tested under scoreboard pressure. Nenagh pressed high, used structured midfield flooding to limit quick outlets, and had a strong ten-minute surge before the break that forced Loughmore to change where they built attacks from.

The shape adjustment came from the half-back line stepping five to seven metres deeper, allowing safer outlets and dragging Nenagh’s wing forwards into uncomfortable tracking roles. Once that change occurred, Loughmore regained control of the phases.

The late goal from substitute Ciaran McCormack was the product of system-based trust rather than individual improvisation. The ball was moved through hands patiently until the correct final runner arrived. John McGrath’s frees steadied the finish, and the composure across the final five minutes showed a champion’s calm. This was the night the group showed they could win a game that was not going their way.

---

Quarter-Final: Loughmore-Castleiney 2-22 Kilruane MacDonaghs 1-19

Kilruane arrived prepared, physical and completely unafraid. Their running game through the middle caused early trouble, particularly in the first fifteen minutes of the second half. When Willie Cleary struck the goal that put Kilruane ahead, many teams would have tilted emotionally. Loughmore did not. They simply returned to structure.

The response was instant. John McGrath tapped over a free, and from the resulting puckout, the press trap activated perfectly: one contest, one turnover, one lightning handpass sequence, and suddenly Ciaran McCormack buried the goal. Kilruane never got to defend while mentally recovering from scoring.

The second goal came from pressing in the exact same pocket of the pitch, proof that Loughmore’s game plan is not reactive but repeatable. The final ten minutes were the most composed of the championship to that point, with every clearance and every shot selection made with complete collective awareness. This was experience made visible.

---

Semi-Final: Loughmore-Castleiney 0-17 Thurles Sarsfields 2-9

This was pure attrition. Heavy turf, wet sliotar, collisions everywhere. But crucially, this was not chaos. Loughmore embraced the physical parameters of the match and turned it into one where control of space mattered more than speed or creativity.

Sarsfields scored the goals, but they never dictated rhythm. Loughmore absorbed both blows, recalibrated shape each time, and continued to move the ball with maturity. John McGrath’s twelve points were decisive, but it was Noel’s defensive sweeping and Brian McGrath’s aerial command that shaped the game.

Loughmore did not win this with spark. They won it with emotional discipline.

---

County Final: Loughmore-Castleiney 2-19 Toomevara 1-17

Finals are often about patience. Toome brought variety, movement and intent, but Loughmore never allowed the contest to change tempo on Toome’s terms. The defensive line held integrity from the throw-in to the last whistle. Loughmore’s bench made the decisive scoring contributions, showing that this is not a team of fifteen, but a squad of twenty-one ready to influence the game at any point.

Paul McCahey’s goal broke the tension. John McGrath’s finishing controlled the rest. Loughmore were champions again, and they were not close to being done.

---

2025 Round 1 – Loughmore-Castleiney 2-18 Drom & Inch 1-20

This game jolted the start of the season. The scoreboard read equal at the end of normal time and the stakes suddenly felt higher than regular group games. Drom & Inch carried their momentum from the previous season into the match and forced Loughmore into contested possession. John McGrath again led the scoring with 2-09, six from frees, but what mattered most was Loughmore’s poise when the moment arrived.

Aidan McGrath stepping up, moving forward from goal, striking the winner from inside his own half was the kind of moment most defenders fear and most forwards dream of. It showed that the defence-to-attack transition for Loughmore is never accidental. The final sequence encapsulated the season’s identity: turnover, fast ball, support runner, shot – and finish. The coaching staff will have noted how Loughmore managed numerous stoppages, resets and phases without the collective shape breaking. The run was on.

---

2025 Round 2 – Loughmore-Castleiney 2-32 JK Brackens 2-20

This performance was statement and proof. Sixteen different scorers. That fact alone should make hurling analysts sit up. Loughmore were not only potent, they were diverse. The game opened with a goal inside five minutes from Mossie McGrath and from that point JK Brackens were chasing runs, support overloads and direction changes. Noel McGrath’s 0-05 and John McGrath’s 0-13 (10 frees) were headline numbers, but the sub-plots matter: Ed Connolly 0-02 from play, Ciaran McCormack 0-04 including three sideline cuts, Paul McCahey 1-01.

The fluidity in substitution patterns showed coaches trusting the process of rotation rather than last-minute scramble. Brackens had periods of good attacking possession but lacked the midfield control and second phase intelligence that Loughmore exhibited. The half-time margin 1-19 to 1-08 told the story. The second half was about width, pace and support runners. This was a side not defending a title, but extending one.

---

2025 Round 3 – Loughmore-Castleiney 3-26 Lorrha 1-17

From the throw-in there was a tempo difference. Loughmore’s half-back line pushed forward, Brian McGrath up to midfield at times, while Noel and Ciaran Connolly pressed the opponents’ outlets. The tactical pivot was to deny Lorrha clear possession and turn every loose ball into attack. Goals by John McGrath, Ed Connolly and Mikey Ryan in the first 20 minutes created separation.

Sub Joey Quinn later added 1-01 as Lorrha’s structure collapsed under repeated overloads. The scoring spread — nine different scorers in this match alone — demonstrated that the strategy was beyond individual brilliance. It was system execution. Loughmore did not let Lorrha settle into rhythm at any stage. They allowed possessions only when they chose, and when they attacked, the finish was clinical.

---

2025 Quarter-Final – Loughmore-Castleiney 3-22 Toomevara 2-20

Knockout intensity. This game shifted fast when three goals in twenty minutes changed the narrative. Ed Connolly 1-05 opened the burst, John McGrath 1-07 continued, and Tomas McGrath added 1-00. But perhaps the most revealing part was Ciaran McCormack’s three sideline points. To consistently score from sideline cuts in a high-pressure game is rare and speaks of training, belief and clarity of role.

Toomevara responded with their own goals and looked dangerous, but Loughmore’s control in the third quarter – by defending at pace, turning loose ball into attack quickly, and managing the score buffer – kept them ahead. When Toome pulled back, Loughmore’s bench rotated in without drop-off and finished strongly. This match showed the psychological and physical endurance built into the system.

---

2025 Semi-Final – Loughmore-Castleiney 1-18 Holycross-Ballycahill 0-15

More than half-time said for this one. Holycross pressed high early, but Loughmore adapted by widening possession, shifting the point of attack and delaying their third phase until the defence committed. The early goal from McCormack’s sideline cut settled Loughmore’s mentally.

John McGrath added 0-09 mostly from the 21-metre zone, but it was the unseen work – Brian McGrath sweeping behind, Liam McGrath working midfield channels, Noel McGrath organising the second wave – that closed the game out. Holycross had a strong push in the final ten minutes, but Loughmore’s composure when the ball travelled from hand to stick to score carried them through.

---

2025 County Final – Loughmore-Castleiney 2-22 Nenagh Éire Óg 1-22

Finals test more than ability, they test belief. Nenagh came hard, and for a moment it looked like momentum might tilt. Mikey Heffernan 1-08 and Jake Morris 0-05 had Nenagh in range. But Loughmore’s identity held. This was not about power, it was about process. Liam McGrath’s goal in the 48th minute was the exclamation mark not of physical strength but of decision-making under fatigue.

Every pass ahead of the strike came from placement, not urgency. The closing fifteen minutes were about defensive shape, clearing ball without panic, and converting second wave attacks. When the final whistle blew, Loughmore had defended their title and underlined that they are the standard because they never lose it.

The 12 Game Unbeaten Run

Highest Score Conceded

Teams That Got Closest

Total Scorers Table, All 12 Games

Total Scorers From Play, All 12 Games

Loughmore Soar, Read Noel Dundon’s Latest Analysis, Click HERE