Galway's St. Thomas' simply refused to accept a fourth successive semi-final loss as they prevailed over Ballygunner on penalties in Saturday night's epic semi-final showdown. The victory sets up a clash against Leinster champions, O'Loughlin Gaels, in the All-Ireland Club Hurling Championship in January. If Saturday's game is anything to go by, the Galway side's doggedness and never-say-die attitude will stand them in good stead in Croke Park.
St. Thomas' were underdogs going into Saturday's game, but instead of being a team that were not expected to win they turned into a team that refused to lose. The team from the west absorbed all the pressure thrown at them and some. The six-in-a-row county champions defied all odds to send tournament favourites Ballygunner crashing out in the most pulsating of semi-finals that went all the way to a nervy penalty shootout.
Conor Cooney, top scorer for St. Thomas on the day with 0-14, coolly dispatched his penalty along with Darragh Burke, Eanna Burke, and Evan Duggan, whilst Dessie Hutchinson and Billy O'Keefe of Ballygunner were left to rue their missed penalty efforts.
St. Thomas' flew out the blocks with James Regan firing home an early goal for his side in the first 90 seconds of the encounter. Oisin Flannery provided a precise pass from the right to leave him one-on-one with the Ballygunner goalkeeper.
The early setback did little to unsettle the Munster champions as they struck back with two goals in the fifth and ninth minute. Two beauties scored by Patrick Fitzgerald and Hutchinson to cancel out the early setback. The Galway champions suffered their first punch to the gut as the favourites wrestled back control.
However, the western side came roaring back into it in the second quarter, scoring five points without reply. The ever-inspiring St. Thomas' hero, David Burke, was amongst the scorers as his side entered the interval with a deserved two-point lead at 1-10 to 2-05. Burke, sporting the number 19 on his back, made his first start of the campaign after a cruciate lay-off.
St. Thomas' played with a stiff wind admittedly in the first half, and the concern was that a two-point lead might not be enough of a gap considering the elements. These worries would bear fruit as Ballygunner took full advantage of the breeze after the restart. In the space of eight minutes, the Waterford side sniped five-points unanswered. The momentum was now firmly with Ballygunner, yet St. Thomas' refused to lie down.
Going into the fourth quarter Ballygunner found themselves two-points to the good. But there was always a feel that this contest would go the distance - summed up by the sides being level five times in the last 15 minutes. Cooney would get the final equiliser of normal time in the 67th minute.
Ballygunner looked to have finally breezed past the south Galway resistance when they grabbed the first three scores of extra-time. Again, St. Thomas absorbed the blows and came punching back leaving themselves a point to the good when Eanna Burke slotted over approaching the final moments. But Ballygunner's O'Keefe kept the tie alive with a bombshell at the death as the tie fnished 1-23 to 2-20.
The underdogs would hold their nerve in the penalty shootout to end a run of three successive All-Ireland semi-final losses. The heartbreak of Dunloy last year now seems a distant memory as St. Thomas' gear up for a date with Croke Park in a bid to repeat the success of 2013.
