Old foes will cross paths once again when the Galway senior hurling championship semi-finals throw-in at Kenny Park, Athenry on Sunday afternoon, with St. Thomas’ now the clear favourites to stretch their county title winning run to an unprecedented seven-in-a-row.
Potentially two wins away from rewriting the history books, St. Thomas’ are on the verge of making their ninth county final appearance since 2012. They have only lost one semi-final since that breakthrough win, when Portumna edged them out in 2013 by just a solitary point after a replay.
Cappataggle needed a miraculous injury-time fightback to knock out Sarsfields and claim a place in the last four for the first time since 2020. St. Thomas’ were their opponents on that occasion, completing a run of four semi-finals in a row where Cappataggle had lost out by a single score.
Since then St. Thomas’ have continued to hold the upper hand in this match-up, winning a closely fought 2021 group game before relatively comfortable quarter-final victories in 2022 and 2023. They proved yet again in their quarter-final that they never know when they are beaten, as James Regan’s injury-time score saw them eke out a win against the odds over Turloughmore.
The second semi-final is another repeat pairing from the knockout stages of the last few years, as Loughrea take on Clarinbridge for the fourth time in three years. As of now, this is not much of a rivalry as Loughrea have won all three encounters, the most recent of which being a six-point victory in early September.
Darren Shaughnessy and Neil Keary did the damage on that occasion and Shaughnessy played a vital part again late on in Loughrea’s less than convincing quarter-final win over Castlegar.
Clarinbridge had less trouble in getting the better of Tommy Larkins, but the potential availability of Aaron Niland could be a key factor in them taking the next step against an experienced Loughrea side.
The Senior B championship final takes place in Duggan Park, Ballinasloe on Saturday evening with a 5pm throw-in, as Portumna look to make a swift return to the top flight when they take on Athenry, who have been competing at this level since it came into existence in 2016.
Cian Burke and Ronan Hardiman have been consistently high scorers for Athenry this season and club morale will have been boosted by their minor A team claiming the county title for the first time since 2010 last weekend after an epic contest with Oranmore-Maree.
Ronan O’Meara, Adam Fogarty and Martin Tuohy have caught the eye for Portumna in their run to the final, while Joe Canning continues to lead by example, tallying a staggering 2-13 in their semi-final win over Ballinderreen.
The intermediate semi-finals are also down for decision on Saturday afternoon with what promises to be two cracking games scheduled in Gort.
Kinvara and Mellick/Eyrecourt are first up at 1pm before last year’s beaten finalists Tynagh/Abbey/Duniry take on Carnmore, who had a point to spare over Killimor in their rearranged quarter-final last weekend.
