Cummins strikes to win the day for streetwise Gort

Date Published: {J}

Gort 1-11St. Thomas 0-10

STEPHEN GLENNON AT KENNY PARK

A FLASH of genius – a moment of clinical finishing – was what it took in the end to separate these two local rivals in what was an entertaining county championship senior hurling semi-final played at Kenny Park on Sunday. Take a bow one Richie Cummins.

Although played in the kind of weather that one has come to associate more with the annual ploughing championships – or the monsoon season in the Asian Pacific – both teams gave their hearts and souls to this one, an honest endeavour that would have impressed the most cursory of sports fans.

To this end, it could be argued that both sets of players – and their managements and supporters – deserved more than have to fight it out in the driving rain and clutching mud in mid-October. The conditions were not conducive to the fine art of hurling – or its basic skills – or, indeed, to any sport that did not have the word ‘water’ as a prefix to it.

What’s done is done and rattling on about the Hurling Board and its handling of fixtures – as a number of supporters did before, during and after – will only incite a variety of mental health issues, so it’s best to return and shift through the bones of a contest that was, for all the negatives, an enjoyable and honest affair.

It took that moment of inspiration rather perspiration from the talented Cummins with just two minutes remaining of normal time to finally establish some daylight between the sides. Galway senior Aidan Harte did most of the spadework in the lead-up with a powerful run before he unlocked the Thomas’ defence with a most succinct handpass to the inrushing Cummins.

While the corner forward – who had missed a glorious chance just minutes earlier – had still work to do, he made no mistake on this occasion with his finish. It more than made amends for his 50th minute mishap, which saw the sharpshooter, incredibly, spurn a gilt-edged chance in front of an open goal.

Still, once Gort had netted the 58th minute goal, it all but signalled the end of a brave St. Thomas’ challenge, even if they continued to battle gamely by applying a considerable amount of pressure on the Gort goal in the dying minutes.

During the bombarding, there were half-chances, but in the end all they could squeeze out of the victors defensive unit was a single point from marauding wing-back Darragh Burke, who had pounced on a wayward clearance.

As for Gort, they fought their rearguard action with guts and glory, man of the match Andy Coen rallying the troops like the central figure out of an all-action, war movie. The siege was finally lifted eight minutes into injury-time when a long range free broke to full-forward Ollie Fahy and the quick-thinking marksman brilliantly cut the sliotar above the head of Thomas’ custodian James Barrett to seal a four-point win.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.