Loreto Hockey Club was founded in 1926 by Mother Bernadette and Una Murray to represent past pupils of Loreto schools in Ireland. The club adopted the red wine and white of Loreto College, St Stephen's Green as their club colours. Loreto won its first trophy, the Leinster Cup in 1946.
In 2008–09 Loreto, with a team that included Nikki Symmons, Lizzie Colvin, Hannah Matthews and Alison Meeke, won the inaugural Women's Irish Hockey League title. In the league final they defeated a Hermes team that included Nicola Evans, Anna O'Flanagan, Gillian Pinder and Chloe Watkins. Loreto won 2–1 in a penalty shoot-out, becoming the first team in the world to win a title with the new one-on-one format.
Loreto's second team enter the Irish Junior Cup. They won the cup in 2012 and were runners-up in 2016.
Year
Winners
Score
Runners Up
1946
Loreto
1948
Loreto
1955
Loreto
1–1
Sandown, Belfast
2005
Loreto
1–0
Old Alexandra II
2012
Loreto
2–0
Pembroke Wanderers
2016
Queens University
3–2
Loreto
;Notes
Loreto in Europe
Loreto has also represented Ireland in European competitions on several occasions. In 2011, with a team that included Nicola Daly, Nikki Symmons, Hannah Matthews and Alison Meeke, Loreto won the EuroHockey Club Champion's Challenge II in Lille. In the final they defeated HC Olten of Switzerland 7–1. In 2014 Hannah Matthews captained Loreto to third place at the European Club Championship Trophy tournament hosted by Leicester Hockey Club.
Grounds
The club was originally based in Dartmouth Square. In the 1930s, the club moved to Cherryfield in Templeogue and played on a pitch which was actually a field at the back of one of the club member's houses. In the mid1940s the club moved to the grounds of the Leinster Branch of the Irish Hockey Union in Templeogue, near Ballyboden St. Enda's GAA. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s the club remained at the Leinster Branch grounds, sharing the six pitches there with four other clubs. When the Leinster Branch grounds were sold for development in the early 1980s the club was homeless again. The Sisters of Loreto gave the club access to the pitch at Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham. In 1987, with the Sisters support and after much fundraising, the club laid a floodlit all-weather pitch in Nutgrove School. In the 1997–98 season the club laid its own astro-turf pitch in partnership with the Loreto Beaufort School. The playing surface on the pitch was replaced in September 2006, with a sand-dressed pitch. In 2017–18 the club successfully applied to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for a €150,000 grant to upgrade the pitch. In 2013 the club opened a new clubhouse. In so doing, Loreto became the first women's only hockey club in Ireland to have its own purpose built clubhouse.
