It mightn’t draw huge crowd but two best teams have made final
Inside Track with John McIntyre
LOCAL GAA officials could never admit it publicly, but another county hurling final between St Thomas’ and Liam Mellows was hardly top of their priority list. Ahead of the semi-finals at Kenny Park last Sunday week, fingers would have been crossed in the hope that Cappataggle and Turloughmore might cause minor upsets.
It has nothing to do with any ill will towards the city club or the reigning champions, but rather that a showdown between Cappy and Turloughmore had the potential to attract a crowd of an extra 3,000. Even ‘neutrals’ in Athenry that day would have been wishing for such an outcome, but the reality is that the two best teams in Galway are back in the final.
St Thomas’ will be appearing in their fourth decider in eight years and have yet to lose one, while Mellows – still under-rated by many followers of the game locally – are featuring in the decider for the third consecutive year. These statistics don’t lie and both teams must be commended for their consistency.
Twelve months ago, it was Mellows who were the title holders, but they were flat on the day in falling to a 2-13 to 0-10 defeat, with Darragh Burke and Conor Cooney finding the net for St Thomas’. Last April, the clubs renewed rivalry in the opening round of group matches and while Louis Mulqueen’s charges turned the tables on a 1-17 to 0-14 scoreline, nobody is paying much attention to that result.
St Thomas’ would have been still coming to terms with their heavy All-Ireland club final defeat to Ballyhale Shamrocks the previous month and, significantly, they haven’t loss since although they played out a low scoring group draw with Turloughmore. In the subsequent quarter-final, they got a real scare from a well organised Tommy Larkins, but finished strongly to take the spoils by 0-16 to 0-14 on a day young Oisín Flannery contributed three vital points and club stalwarts, David Burke (sideline cut) and Conor Cooney, landed the winning scores.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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