St Thomas' star David Burke said that the Galway outfit's All-Ireland triumph was driven by their inability to get over the line in recent seasons while O'Loughlin Gaels selector Nigel Skehan has slammed the decision not to award the Leinster champions a first-half goal.
It was a controversial day at Croke Park with Fintan Burke falling back over the line with the sliotar in the 11th minute while trying to keep out a shot from Gaels’ Owen Wall, but the umpires didn’t award the goal and the St Thomas' defender was able to clear the ball at a time when their opponents were a point ahead.
There was also a lot of debate about James Regan’s red card early in the second half, but St Thomas' went on to secure a 0-18 to 0-17 win despite the numerical disadvantage, and Burke told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland that motivation was never going to be an issue.
"It’s hard to put into words, I think there’s 10 years of hurt there in that group getting so close," said Burke, who was inspirational as the club added a second Tommy Moore Cup to go with their maiden victory in 2013.
"When you get to this level you have to be on it or you’re not going to be there. Coming up against serious teams the last few years, I think after last year losing to Dunloy [All-Ireland semi-final] and just wanting to get back here and proving a point.
"Just proving to ourselves that we could do it and I’m so proud of the lads today."
While Regan’s red card looked like it could be decisive on a day that looked destined for a close finish, player of the match Burke said that he wasn’t really fazed when referee Seán Stack flashed the card in the 32nd minute.
"I was [worried] and I wasn’t, to be honest. I think we got a good start [to the second half] and we started hurling well. Things were going to a natural flow.
"I remember we got a free and I was telling the lads to kind of slow sit down a bit, but they were saying no, speed it up, we were flowing well, got a few good scores. We upped our work-rate all around the field and stopped standing off O’Loughlin Gaels.
"They have lads that can score from the half-back line and we were standing off too much, I think we just started to push up harder on them and got a bit of joy out of that.
"The conditions were so hard, shooting into those posts both sides. A score was going to be worth nearly two points today and I think we saw that in the second half."
Meanwhile, O’Loughlin Gaels selector Nigel Skehan took aim at the officials for not awarding Wall’s goal.
"A good few talking points, unfortunately it was a massive call missed in the first half with the goal decision; a ridiculous decision to be honest and I’m going to be straight about it.
"I’m not going to beat around the bush, [it was] a ridiculous decision, how they got it wrong I have no idea.
"There were other decisions, I wouldn't think the sending off was a sending off either to be fair to James Regan, there were a lot of heavy hits in the game. Probably unfortunate really that he got a red card.
"Look, we didn’t play well enough in the second half, we weren't good enough on the ball. We probably lost the game, lost a bit of structure there when they lost a man. Hugely disappointing."
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