St Thomas’ remain on track for a fourth county title win in a row after comprehensively out-hurling Gort in the re-arranged senior semi-final that took place last Sunday in Pearse Stadium.
Watched on by the new Galway management team of Henry Shefflin, Richie O’Neill, and Kevin Lally, St. Thomas’ were rarely troubled by a Gort side whose preparations were so obviously thrown into turmoil by recent events which had forced cancellations on successive weekends.
On a bright, chilly afternoon, St Thomas’ were quickly into their stride and led by 0-6 to 0-2 by the ninth minute, with five different scorers already on the mark. Gort were playing into whatever wind there was, but still looked sluggish in comparison, with Aidan Helebert frees their only scores in the opening quarter.
St. Thomas’ first touch and sharpness were at a different level, but their opening goal on 21 minutes came from a more direct route, as a long puck-out from Gerald Kelly landed among a throng of players from both sides but broke in James Regan’s direction, and he took off unopposed before firing a shot to the net.
With David Burke and Conor Cooney adding classy points from play, and Eanna Burke also getting on the scoresheet before half-time, St Thomas’ controlled the game and led by 1-10 to 0-5 at the turnaround, having created 20 scoring opportunities to just eight from Gort, who managed just one score from play.
Within eight minutes of the restart, the contest was well and truly over, as Conor Cooney cleverly batted a shot to the net after a darting run, before Bernard Burke picked out Damien McGlynn in far too much space in front of goal, and he beat Kris Finnegan for the third time.
Oisín Flannery then added a fourth before the second water break and Gort’s woes were compounded when substitute Albert Mullins was sent off with seven minutes remaining. St Thomas’ were able to empty their subs bench well before the finish and will now look forward with relish to a final date with Clarinbridge on December 5.
Elsewhere, there was high drama in the intermediate final played at Kenny Park on Saturday as Moycullen snatched the title from Killimor’s grasp with a late Eanna Noone goal.
Killimor led by 1-10 to 1-7 at the three quarter mark and looked set for an upset win when clinging onto a one-point lead deep into injury time, only for Noone to strike at the death for a 2-11 to 1-12 victory that made up for Moycullen having lost last season’s final earlier this year to Kilconieron.
Craughwell proved far too strong for Liam Mellows in the junior A final replay, winning by 1-19 to 2-9, while Clarinbridge made it two minor A titles in a row after eventually getting the better of Oranmore-Maree, albeit in a way they would probably have preferred to have avoided.
Having finished a pulsating match and extra time period deadlocked at 1-17 to 2-14, the sides were forced into a penalty shoot-out to decide a winner, with Aaron Niland netting what turned out to be the winning goal for Clarinbridge.
