Loughrea 0-17 St Thomas' 1-15
St. Thomas' are five-in-a-row champions in Galway after this afternoon’s incredibly tense and dramatic senior hurling final replay ultimately turned on a couple of key moments in the latter stages.
In a contest where there was two points or less between the sides for all bar 30 seconds in the first half, it looked like the younger and livelier Loughrea side might just be poised to finally make their breakthrough and bridge their 16-year championship drought when a superb score from Darren Shaughnessy edged them 0-16 to 1-12 in front with seven minutes remaining.
Composure under pressure was to prove the decisive factor however as Conor Cooney nailed two long-range pressure frees and Éanna Burke completed a run of three vital points on the spin in the 59th minute, asking incredibly tough questions of the town club.
Galway senior panellist Tiernan Killeen stepped up to the mark with an accurate finish from out on the left wing, but while the underdogs created three other decent chances to equalise, albeit all struck from 60 metres out or more, they were wide of the mark on all three occasions, with Neil Keary pushing both a free and a strike from the right side of midfield wide of the left-hand upright.
That finish was somewhat appropriate for the game as a whole, where Loughrea were that little bit more sharp and explosive, but where St. Thomas’ game management kept them in touch. Nowhere was this more evident than in the deployment of Mark Caulfield up forward, initially at centre forward but alternating between there, wing forward and full forward.
After Loughrea burst out of the blocks to lead by 0-04 to 0-02 after five minutes, with Jamie Ryan and Joe Mooney striking highlight reel points, Caulfield helped by providing a focal point at the heart of the St. Thomas attack, and they settled to trail by just 0-04 to 0-05, before the big man who played the entire season at centre back applied the finish to a barnstorming run from Conor Cooney.
A clever snapshot from Victor Manso extended the winners’ lead to three points, the most it had been the whole game, but Loughrea weren’t long about working their way back into the tie, and a clever pass from Darren Shaughnessy was met with a crafty finish from Neil Keary to tie the game up coming up to half-time.
Two majestic scores in quick succession from Caulfield before the interval established the narrowest of leads for the champions while both sides took their water on board, but that lead lasted all of 20 seconds after half-time thanks to Tiernan Killeen, and another nip and tuck 30 minutes got underway.
The scoring rate slowed considerably, not due to a lack of quality but instead due to in incredible level of physicality, allied to the quite lenient approach to robust defensive tackling applied by referee John McDonagh.
Tiernan and Caimín Killeen struck excellent points for Loughrea while Oisín Flannery and Caulfield picked off some superb scores on the St. Thomas’ side, but entering the closing stages, supporters on both sides must have suspected that these sides might well be headed for extra time.
Instead, the side that know more than anyone else in the county about how to win, were about to show their mettle one more time.
St. Thomas’: Gerald Kelly; Evan Duggan, Fintan Burke, Cian Mahony; Cathal Burke (0-01), David Burke, John Headd (0-01); Bernard Burke (0-01), Darragh Burke (0-01); Victor Manso (0-01), Conor Cooney (0-04, 0-03 frees), Mark Caulfield (1-03); Damien McGlynn, Oisín Flannery (0-01), Éanna Burke (0-02).
Subs Used: Brendan Farrell for B Burke (54 mins), Conor Headd for Manso (56).
Loughrea: Gearóid Loughnane; Paul Hoban, Kieran Hanrahan, Johnny Coen; Darren Shaughnessy (0-01), Ian Hanrahan, Brian Keary; Oisín Coyle, Tiernan Killeen (0-03), Neil Keary (0-05, 0-04 frees), Dylan Shaughnessy, Anthony Burns; Martin McManus (0-02), Joe Mooney (0-01), Jamie Ryan (0-04, 0-02 frees).
Subs used: Caimín Killeen (0-01) for B Keary (33 mins), Shane O’Brien for Dylan Shaughnessy (39 mins), Tom Hoban for Burns (58).
Referee: John McDonagh (Kinvara).
