St. ThomasÕ survive thriller

Date Published: 13-Feb-2013

St. Thomas’ 1-25

Loughgiel Shamrocks 3-19

(After Extra-Time)

STEPHEN GLENNON AT PARNELL PARK

SAY what you like but Galway teams do have this wonderful ability to light up the All-Ireland club senior hurling championship as St. Thomas’ – like so many standard bearers of the county have done in the past – continued that fine tradition in an absorbing semi-final at Parnell Park on Saturday.

That is to take nothing away from reigning All-Ireland holders Loughgiel Shamrocks, who once again, proved they are worthy champions and contributed generously to what was an incredible game of hurling. However, this St. Thomas’ display was up there with the best that previous Galway teams, most recently Clarinbridge and Portumna, had to offer.

So many times, both sides looked to be on the brink of bowing out but fuelled by spirit and courage, fought their way back. The most dramatic, of course, was Loughgiel’s late, late rally in injury-time of extra-time when Antrim sharpshooter Liam Watson hammered home a placed ball from 20 metres to tie up the game and take the contest to a replay.

The free itself may have given rise to debate – it was difficult to identify the foul such was the chaos that took place in the goalmouth scramble – but, in fairness, the officials were close to the action and were definite in their views.

Watson’s wonder strike, though, saw St. Thomas’ lead – which had stood at four with just over two minutes of normal time remaining in extra-time – wiped out unceremoniously and while the Galway men were left to bemoan their ill-fortune, it was, quite simply, an unbelievable finish to a breathtaking epic.

For just as St. Thomas’ could have won this tie, they could also have lost it and it took an equally remarkable effort from their centre-half forward and man of the match Conor Cooney – who tallied 12 points on the day – in injury-time of normal time to force the extra period.

That was not the end of the excitement either as both Loughgiel’s Mark McFadden and St. Thomas’ James Regan had chances deep in injury-time after the 60 minutes to snatch the victory but it was not to be and extra-time ensued.

The opening 20 minutes proved to be a microcosm of the game as a whole. St. Thomas’ shot out of the blocks with three points in the opening two minutes through Cooney – a wonderful sideline cut after 30 seconds and an effort from play – and a Richard Murray strike following a swift counter attack.

However, over the next nine minutes, PJ O’Mullan’s charges weathered the proverbial storm and found their feet to outscore their opponents by five points to one. Benny McCarry, Liam Watson (two frees), Eddie McCloskey and Joey Scullion all found the target for the champions while Cooney was continuing to lead the Thomas’ forward line with another superb score from play.

Three points from St. Thomas’ trio Kenneth Burke, James Regan and Cooney (65) subsequently wrestled the lead back – 0-7 to 0-5 – but when their defence failed to deal with a Barney McAuley delivery, corner forward Shay Casey bundled the ball to the Thomas’ net to swing the advantage back in Loughgiel’s favour on 20 minutes.

The remainder of the first half played out in similar fashion with Watson (two frees) and Cooney – another memorable sideline cut – trading scores. At the break, though, it was the Ulster champions who led 1-7 to 0-8.

Interestingly, just as Loughgiel struck for their opening goal after 20 minutes of the first half, they did the very same in the second period – and, once again, it undid a great deal of St. Thomas’ fine work.

For more, read this week’s Connact Tribune