No Doubting Thomases are left in Galway now

IT’S no accident that St. Thomas’ are where they are this week – basking in the glory of just being crowned the best club hurling team in the land – as it wasn’t just talent alone which propelled the Galway champions to an historic achievement. They also possessed an admirable single-mindedness and absolute dedication in pursuit of their objectives.

Last year four of the squad, Cathal Burke, Patrick Skehill, James Regan and Cian Kelly all turned 21, but there were no parties or celebrations until a combined event was staged over the Christmas, as reported by the Sunday Times over the weekend. That’s extraordinary commitment by any standards and underlines the maturity which runs through a largely young team.

In becoming the seventh Galway club to lift the Tommy Moore Cup, St. Thomas’ broke new ground in becoming the first of them to go the whole way in their debut season at this level and though Sunday’s hard-earned success over a gallant Kilcormac-Killoughey wasn’t as swashbuckling as a couple of Portumna’s Croke Park victories, it won’t matter a whit to the proud people of Kilchreest and Peterswell this week.

Having got no help from referee John Sexton for nearly 50 minutes of an earnest struggle fought out in difficult conditions, the Cork official gave them plenty of help from there to the finish by controversially dismissing Kilcormac midfielders Killian Leonard and Damien Kilmartin. Both decisions were harsh and left the Offaly champions seriously handicapped in the closing stages after the teams had been tied at 1-9 each when the referee started brandishing red cards.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter now what would have happened if Kilcormac had finished with 15 players, but it is fair to speculate that there was no guarantee St. Thomas’ would have gone on to carry the day, although they had survived a mini-crisis in the third quarter. Leading by two points at the interval, Robert Murray and his team-mates struggled on the resumption and conceded four unanswered points to fall 1-11 to 1-9 behind.

St. Thomas’ were clearly rattled and with the heavy rain more disadvantageous to their brand of slick hurling, they were struggling to create the necessary space and openings against dogged opponents. They needed someone to display leadership in their hour of need and into that breach stepped former county player, the influential Richie Murray, to land equalising points while Kilcormac still had a full complement of players.

With young substitute Eanna Burke effectively swooping on breaking ball around his own half-back line, St. Thomas’ had no shortage of possession or territory down the home stretch, but their wayward shooting – 14 wides in total – continued to make life difficult for them until Conor Cooney landed the match-winning scores from out the field after intelligent lay-offs from Sean Skehill, one of the heroes of the club’s unforgettable season, and Eanna Burke respectively. The better hurling team had pulled it off, but St. Thomas’ also had to show courage and resilience against under-rated Kilcormac.

Sometimes, people forget how difficult it is for a young team to keep their focus when they are strong favourites to win an All-Ireland title and their opponents lose one of their best players, the injured Daniel Currams, days before the big match. Everything appeared to be falling in their favour and they also had to contend with all the loose talk around about the result being nearly a formality.

It is to St. Thomas’ credit that they didn’t get ahead of themselves against that background and though the team wasn’t at its best in Croke Park last Sunday, they still got the job done. It represents an extraordinary achievement and great credit is due to their management team of John Burke, Justin Flannery, Jimmy Kelly and Dinny Cahill for masterminding a glorious campaign.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.