Sarsfields finish strongly to edge out wasteful St. Thomas' in a lively affair

Sarsfields 1-18St. Thomas’ 0-18

Alan Dooleyin Loughrea

A GAME that for long periods appeared destined to end in stalemate in Loughrea on Sunday afternoon was eventually won by a Sarsfields side that held their nerve at the finish to edge out St. Thomas’ in Group C of the Cooper Senior hurling championship.

Kerrill Wade was the undoubted star for Sarsfields in a livley joust between two very evenly matched sides, ending with 1-11 to his name, with his final two points breaking the deadlock for the last time in the closing minutes as St. Thomas’ were left to rue some poor shooting at the death.

Indeed, it was probably Sarsfields efficiency in front of the posts in the second half – they managed just a single wide from 13 attempts at the posts – which just gave them the right to shade a contest which was level on no less than seven occasions.

It was a different story in the opening 20 minutes, though, as Sarsfields struggled to shake off the cobwebs and cope with the cross-field breeze, shooting eight astray, yet still they managed to be on level terms at 1-2 to 0-5 in the main thanks to Wade’s lethal shot to the net on 12 minutes after good work from Noel Kelly in the left corner.

St. Thomas’ scores had come from a brace each from Conor Cooney (one free) and James Regan with Kenneth Burke also finding the range from his midfield station. Cooney and Regan were St. Thomas’ biggest threats in that opening spell but the switch of Kevin Hynes back to centre half back somewhat diluted their effectiveness.

A quartet of Wade points (three frees) for Sarsfields in quick succession opened up the first meaningful gap of the contest by the 27th minute, but this was whittled away in injury time as Regan and a subdued Richie Murray closed the gap to two with classy points.

Kenneth Burke narrowed the deficit further on the resumption before Hynes posted arguably the score of the day for Sarsfields after a lung-bursting run from defence went unhindered and he expertly split the posts.

St. Thomas’ were beginning to assert themselves, though, and they notched four points in four minutes through Anthony Kelly (2), Regan, and a Cooney free to take the lead, although they did in the same period waste their only viable goal chance of the day which in the end proved critical.

Sarsfields continued the tit-for-tat nature of events with three points of their own to nudge ahead as Joseph Cooney landed a magical score from distance before a Wade free and Neil Morrissey point made it 1-10 to 0-12 in Gerry Fahy’s side’s favour.

A nasty looking knee injury to Sarsfields midfielder Kieran Kelly on 44 minutes interrupted their rhythm and St. Thomas’ were back on the offensive with Cooney again on target from a placed ball before Kenneth Burke’s third of the game was cancelled out by a fine effort by Liam Michael Kelly.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.