Loughrea was the only team to book a quarter-final berth in the Brooks Group Galway Senior Hurling Championship after yet another impressive victory, this time over Cappataggle, last weekend.
What had been predicted to be a tight contest swung very much in Loughrea’s favour when they hit 1-7 without reply in the early stages of the second half, the goal scored by Neil Keary in the 42nd minute.
The win leaves Loughrea sitting pretty at the top of group 2, with Tommy Larkins in pole position to grab second place after their 4-16 to 0-16 win over Craughwell.
All of their goals came in the second half with Gerard Kelly, Conor Gardiner, Cian Duggan, and Jason Flynn on target.
Gort kept alive their hopes of making the preliminary quarter-finals after a resounding win over Kilconieron, and now face a crunch tie against Craughwell.
In Group 1 the four teams through to the knockout stages are now clear but, after a couple of relatively surprising results, the top two positions in the table are still very much up for grabs.
For the first time since April 2019, St Thomas’ fell to defeat in the senior championship as Turloughmore inflicted a heavy beating on the champions in Athenry on Saturday.
Goals from Tom Quirke and a Seán Loftus penalty late in the first half put clear daylight between the sides, and in the end Francis Forde’s men were full value for their 2-23 to 0-14 win.
Elsewhere Clarinbridge had to settle for their second draw in a row as a late Ger Farragher free earned Castlegar a point on a 1-24 apiece scoreline.
Sarsfields have also kept themselves very much in the hunt with a 3-17 to 0-12 win over the still pointless Killimordaly, with Kevin Cooney, Alex Connaire, and Jeffery Lawless registering majors.
Moycullen unbeaten
Moycullen maintained their unbeaten run in senior B Group 1 with a dramatic win over Kilnadeema/Leitrim, as Kevin O’Donovan’s last-gasp goal secured a one-point win for last year’s intermediate champions.
Oranmore-Maree are best placed to join them in the knockout stages after they defeated Athenry by 0-20 to 0-12, while Beagh recorded an important first win of the campaign by 1-25 to 1-19 over Tynagh Abbey/Duniry to secure their senior status for another year.
In Group 2 the top three teams all recorded wins as Portumna defeated Mullagh by 3-21 to 2-16 to stay in first place.
Ardrahan were 2-19 to 1-18 winners over Ahascragh/Fohenagh, and Liam Mellows remain in the hunt for a knockout spot after a 1-19 to 0-16 point victory against Padraig Pearses.
The last four in the race for the intermediate championship are Sylane, who made history by reaching this stage for the first time in the club’s history. The north Galway side needed extra time to get the better of Kinvara by 2-21 to 0-23. They will play last year’s beaten finalists Killimor in the semi-finals, after they comfortably saw off Turloughmore, while there were also wins for Rahoon-Newcastle and Meelick-Eyrecourt, who both exited at the semi-final stage last year.
