St Thomas’ bid for a sixth Galway senior hurling title in succession started predictably when they saw off Gort on Sunday afternoon.
The title-holders ran out nine-point winners in the end on a weekend in which all the main contenders enjoyed winning starts to their campaigns.
The field chasing the prized Tom Callanan Cup has been reduced from 24 to 16 clubs, and Group 2 has arguably the strongest combination of teams. But, St Thomas’, despite the absence of David Burke and Mark Caulfield, are still the class act in the race, and early goals from Victor Manso and Conor Cooney laid the platform for a 2-23 to 0-20 victory.
Elsewhere in that group, Turloughmore put paid to the notion their clash with Portumna would be a tight affair in the opening half. They ran out impressive winners by 2-26 to 0-17 in Duggan Park on Friday night. Conor Walsh made a welcome return for Turloughmore, hitting 11 points, while Conor Shaughnessy and Brendan Whelan were the goalscorers.
The Group 1 derby between Clarinbridge and Oranmore-Maree was a lot closer, but eventually Mark Kennedy’s first-half hat-trick was the deciding factor as Clarinbridge saw off a late rally from Ronan Heffernan’s sideby 3-15 to 1-17.
Killimordaly picked up a valuable win against injury-hit Tommy Larkins in the group’s other game, with Brian Burke, Brian Concannon, and Jack Fitzpatrick doing most of the damage in a 0-23 to 0-17 win.
Loughrea are hoping to go one better than last year in winning their first title since 2006 and were comfortable winners over Moycullen on Saturday afternoon in Pearse Stadium. Despite Martin McManus’ withdrawal, Loughrea were able to build a sizeable total in tricky conditions as Joe Mooney and Anthony Burns grabbed a brace of goals apiece in their 4-26 to 0-14 victory.
Cappataggle also got off to winning start on Sunday as Liam Collins and Oisin Finn hit first-half goals while playing against the wind in Kenny Park, and that proved the difference for Steven Creaven’s men in a 2-23 to 0-23 win.
Due to the sad passing last week of Sarsfields’ club legend Jimmy Cooney, their game with Craughwell was postponed until next weekend, with Ardrahan and Castlegar doing battle in the other Group 4 fixture on Saturday evening. Johnny Glynn played a major role at full forward in a fine Ardrahan performance as they ran out four-point winners, 1-24 to 1-20, with Liam Forde rifling in the all-important goal.
The stand alone Senior B competition, with the Daniel Reeves trophy up for grabs, also got underway last weekend and there was a surprise of sorts in the opening game in Group 1 when Mullagh overcame Liam Mellows by 3-18 to 1-16, with full forward Sean Callanan bagging a hat-trick.
Ahascragh-Fohenagh left it late to get the better of 14-man Athenry in the same group, as they hit five of the game’s last six scores to record a 2-16 to 0-19 win with Cathal Mannion hitting three of those vital scores. Killimor began their return to the senior grade with a good win over Beagh, 1-20 to 1-16, while Kilnadeema-Leitrim had the minimum to spare in defeating Padraig Pearses.
