St Thomas’ lay down marker with big win over Castlegar

St Thomas’ 1-19

Castlegar 0-13

St Thomas’ remain unbeaten in this year’s championship as they saw off Castlegar in Pearse Stadium last Saturday afternoon. Kevin Lally’s side had already secured progression from Group 1, but they guaranteed a quarter-final spot seeing off the city side’s challenge without ever needing to hit top gear.

Even playing within themselves, Thomas’ still showed why they are many people’s pick for this year’s championship. The 2016 champions had nine scorers altogether, compared to just four from Castlegar, and any time their opponent’s looked to be building a little momentum, Thomas’ seemed to be able to find that little bit extra to respond.

To be fair to Castlegar, they more than held their own for the first quarter, even if Thomas’ did make the quicker start. Bernard Burke fired over from 50m to get his side up on running but Ger Farragher got Castlegar off the mark in the fourth minute after Kevin Keane had done well to win a free.

Thomas’ looked as if they might take control as they hit the next three scores, Éanna Burke, Kenneth Burke and Darragh Burke all finding the target but Castlegar responded well as the city side hit three points in as many minutes to draw the sides level again.

Good work from Jack Coyne and Mark Gill saw Gill fire over a point in the 10th minute before two scores from Ger Farragher, one from play and one from a free, made it 0-3 apiece after 12 minutes.

Castlegar had a chance for the game’s opening goal a couple of minutes later when Farragher sent a lovely ball over the top for Enda Concannon. The forward had enough time to control the ball but, thinking that Gerald Murray was coming off his line to meet him, Concannon opted to pull first-time but he dragged his shot wide.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and  county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.