It’s revenge of sorts as Liam Mellows down the champions

LIAM MELLOWS 1-17

St. THOMAS’ 0-14

THE extent of Conor Cooney’s ankle injury became the main talking point from Sunday’s televised match in Group 1, as Liam Mellows ran out comfortable winners over a St. Thomas’ side who were already counting the cost of a lengthy injury list before the Galway forward went down with under five minutes to play.

Soonafter the contest was out of St. Thomas’ reach as points by substitute Enda Fallon and David Collins moved Louis Mulqueen’s men more than two goals clear, and the painful memories of a nine-point hammering at the hands of their opponents in last year’s final were beginning to be erased.

Granted, St. Thomas’ would have been a different proposition had Fintan, Eanna, and Kenneth Burke, James Regan and Brendan Farrell been available for selection, and had minimal training ground work put in after their All-Ireland club final defeat, but the controlled manner in which Mellows pulled away in the final 20 minutes will have pleased their manager.

They had to be thankful on two occasions to the excellent reflexes of goalkeeper Kenneth Walsh, who maintained a clean sheet thanks to stunning stops from Conor Cooney, Colin Fallon, and David Burke. With Tadhg Haran in good form after taking over the free-taking duties from a misfiring Adrian Morrissey, the brisk start they made ended up having a major impact on the game’s outcome.

The opening moments were action packed as both sides tore into the contest from the off, with an early block on Conor Cooney by Seán Morrissey setting the tone, and the first break in play came when Jack Hastings mishit shot dropped short, appeared to be missed by an attempted flick by Conor Kavanagh, and somehow ended up in the net.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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