St Thomas’ yet again delivered the goods on the big day, producing an assured performance last Sunday to win the Galway Senior Hurling Championship crown by 0-20 to 0-17 over Clarinbridge.
St Thomas’ display at Pearse Stadium was packed with class and hard graft to secure a sixth county title in 10 years, and fourth in a row.
It came at the expense of a Clarinbridge side that were not far off causing a major upset, thanks to the phenomenal long-distance free-taking of Evan Niland.
That kept Clarinbridge in the hunt until very late in the game, but when Man of the Match Conor Cooney capitalised on two misplaced passes to clinically strike points that put St Thomas’ five clear, there was little doubt Cooney would be getting his hands on the Tom Callanan Cup yet again.
“We knew coming in here that Clarinbridge would put up an immense challenge,” Cooney acknowledged afterwards. “They have a brilliant young team, and we know that they have done amazing things at underage.
“We have no doubts that they will be there or thereabouts in the next couple of years, challenging again next year. It’s brilliant for the club to do four-in-a-row, it’s really something special and we will definitely savour it.”
On a gloriously calm, bright day, both sides converted the vast majority of their scoring chances, but in the second and third quarters St Thomas’ clever stickwork and manipulation of space was key in their first grabbing the lead and then maintaining their advantage as Oisín Flannery, Eanna Burke, James Regan, and Darragh Burke all chipped in with vital scoring contributions.
“It wasn’t easy, that was a serious battle,” Regan admitted. “If we were to play the game again, who knows what would happen? This year we were just really focused on our performance, to try to improve every day we went out.
“I think from the start of the year to the game today, we have done that. There was definitely improvement from one game to the next. When you are doing that, results look after themselves.”
Shane Cooney, Evan Duggan, and Cathal Burke formed a crucially solid half-back line for the champions, setting in motion plenty of scoring attacks while also restricting the Clarinbridge forwards shooting opportunities.
They were aided by David Burke dropping deep once a meaningful lead had been established, with Fintan Burke also holding Clarinbridge full-forward Cian Salmon scoreless. St Thomas’ manager Kenneth Burke, maintaining this remarkable winning streak in just first year in charge, was full of praise for his side.
“It’s hard to believe. It’s a massive achievement for the team and the lads there. It just shows the determination and drive that they have. They are just hungry to play hurling and play as best as they could.
“For me and the lads in the background, it’s just steering them, they’re driving it, the players are driving it themselves at the end of the day. They just want to play as best as they can every day they go out and thankfully they are well able to hurl. The results usually follow after that. We’ll enjoy this, we’ll regroup in the next week or two and we’ll see what’s ahead of us.”
St Thomas’: G Kelly, C Mahony, F Burke, D Sherry; E Duggan, S Cooney, C Burke; David Burke (0-1 ), B Burke; J Regan (0-2 ), C Cooney (0-11, 6fs ), Darragh Burke (0-2 ); D McGlynn, O Flannery (0-2 ), E Burke (0-2 ). Subs: V Manso for B Burke (50 ), B Farrell for McGlynn (50 ), D Finnerty for E Burke (60 ).
Clarinbridge: A Binden; O Salmon, I O’Brien, C Bannon; S Ryan, TJ Brennan (0-1 ), S Kilduff; S Bannon, P Foley; M Daly (0-1 ), E Niland (0-10, 9fs ), M Kennedy (0-2 ); N Armstrong (0-1 ), C Salmon, G Lee (0-2 ). Sub: L Leen for Armstrong (44 ).
Referee: L Gordon.
