Drama upon drama at Croke Park. Eanna Burke struck a remarkable winning point for 14-man St Thomas' deep into stoppage time to secure the AIB All-Ireland club SHC title, 11 years after they claimed their last one, but will O'Loughlin Gaels cry foul? Perhaps so.
The clock was well into the 65th minute when Burke cleverly took the ball away from a ruck of players out on the left wing beneath the Hogan Stand and split the posts for a sumptuous score at the Hill 16 End.
It was a score worthy of winning any All-Ireland and will be replayed for many years to come around the Galway stronghold.
The win was even more impressive as St Thomas' played most of the second half with just 14 players following the sending off of attacker James Regan. They were trailing by a point at that stage and shortly after went two down.
Yet O'Loughlin Gaels would appear to have plenty to complain about as a goal which they appeared to score, when Owen Wall had a shot apparently cleared from behind the goal-line by St Thomas' full-back Fintan Burke, wasn't given.
It was hard to be conclusive on it but TV replays appeared to show the ball being carried over the line in the eighth minute before Burke recovered and punted it away. From that clearance, St Thomas' scored a point so it was a four-point swing in scoring terms.
Galway star David Burke was named player of the match for his huge display, another impressive feat considering he only recently returned from a cruciate knee ligament injury.
There were important scores too from the likes of Conor Cooney, Victor Manso and goalkeeper Gerald Kelly as six-in-a-row Galway champions St Thomas' turned in a powerful second-half display to claim the national title.
All the talk beforehand was of the players being beaten up by the elements but the real storm was on the field of play in a game as tetchy as it was entertaining. In all, there were eight yellow cards and a red over the hour or so.
In scoring terms, O'Loughlin Gaels led by 0-10 to 0-08 at half-time but did considerably more of the hurling and will rue the fact that they weren't further ahead at that stage.
The ghost goal was the big controversy but there were plenty more talking points than just that. St Thomas' corner-back David Sherry was lifted off with an apparent lower leg injury in the 20th minute.
Another St Thomas' defender, John Headd, was mightily fortunate to escape any sanction when he shoved Sean Bolger so hard the O'Loughlins attacker flew over an AIB hoarding and into the netting behind the Hill 16 goal. It took him a couple of minutes just to get back onto the pitch.
Just before half-time, Eanna Burke was booked for an off-the-ball challenge on All-Star defender Mikey Butler. There were four first-half bookings in total, two for each team. The first of the yellows was flashed at Gaels' wing-forward Conor Heary who took his opportunity to lay down a huge hit on St Thomas' dangerman Conor Cooney in the sixth minute.
Aside from the Butler-Eanna Burke matchup, Gaels full-back Huw Lawlor went head to head with Oisin Flannery and it was a corker for 25 minutes or so until Flannery swapped positions with wing-forward Manso.
The Paddy Deegan-Conor Cooney duel was a gripping one too and while Cooney hit the interval with three points to his name, two from frees, Deegan also smashed over three long-range beauties. As if to highlight the quality of his long-range striking and stickwork, Deegan put two of those over off his left side and the third off his right.
The sides were leve four times up to 0-04 apiece and it wasn't until the second quarter that O'Loughlins put some distance between the teams, outscoring St Thomas' by 0-05 to 0-03 in that period.
Still it was anyone's game and it looked like the Regan dismissal two minutes after the restart would be the game's turning point.
Referee Sean Stack made a huge call to order off the corner-forward, concluding that Regan had caught Gaels midfielder Jack Nolan with a head high challenge as he came steaming in to contest for possession.
Goalkeeper Stephen Murphy converted from the free for Gaels but they didn't push on as expected. O'Loughlin Gaels kept the extra man in defence though St Thomas', even with depleted numbers, struck the next three points to open up a 0-13 to 0-11 lead with 45 minutes on the clock.
With Conor Cooney now repositioned to full-forward, St Thomas' powered on for a famous win with a brilliant final quarter display in the deteriorating conditions. Manso punched the air in delight after one of his scores and they led by three with 60 minutes almost played.
O'Loughlin Gaels reached the final with a series of narrow wins, beating both Ballyhale Shamrocks in the county final and Na Fianna in the Leinster final by a single point and, true to form, reeled off three late scores to wipe out the deficit.
But just when a draw seemed the likeliest outcome, up stepped Burke with that extraordinary intervention to win it for St Thomas'.
St Thomas': Gerald Kelly (0-01, 0-01f); David Sherry, Fintan Burke, Cian Mahony; Shane Cooney, Cathal Burke (0-01), John Headd; Damien Finnerty, David Burke (0-03); Victor Manso (0-02), Conor Cooney (0-06, 0-04f), Darragh Burke; James Regan (0-02), Oisin Flannery, Eanna Burke (0-03).
Subs: Evan Duggan for Sherry (20 mins), Bernard Burke for Manso (50 mins), Damien McGlynn for Flannery (15 mins).
O'Loughlin Gaels: Stephen Murphy (0-01, 0-01f); Mikey Butler (0-01), Huw Lawlor, Tony Forristal; David Fogarty (0-02), Paddy Deegan (0-03), Jordan Molloy (0-01); Jack Nolan, Cian Loy; Conor Heary (0-01), Eoin O'Shea, Mark Bergin (0-04, 0-02f); Owen Wall, Luke Hogan (0-01), Sean Bolger (0-02).
Subs: Conor Kelly (0-01) for O'Shea (47 mins), Jamie Ryan for Nolan (50 mins), Paddy Butler for Loy (58 mins).
Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin).
