St ThomasÕs day of delight

STEPHEN GLENNON

It was a day for the history-makers as St Thomas’s became the first Galway club to win an All-Ireland senior club hurling title at the first time of asking thanks to their two-point victory over Offaly and Leinster champions Kilcormac/Killoughey in Croke Park on Sunday.

When you think of all the great Galway teams that have claimed the Tommy Moore Cup in this competition in the past – Castlegar, Kiltormer, Sarsfields, Athenry, Portumna and Clarinbridge – they all needed to test the waters at some stage before finally plotting a successful course to take them to the title.

In front of almost 29,000 people in Croke on St Patrick’s Day, though, St Thomas’s showed this does not always have to be the case and – on a day when St Brigid’s of Kiltoom claimed a first ever football title for Roscommon and the Ireland women’s rugby team won a first ever Six Nations Grand Slam – the South Galway club created its own little bit of history.

Was it pretty? Hell, no! Yet, it was better to grind out a victory in almost sub-zero temperatures, a torrential downpour and on a pitch that was as bare as a baby’s you-know-what than to lose playing the type of free-flowing hurling that the Kilchreest/Peterswell outfit have shown they can produce on any given day.

To the fore in the 1-11 to 1-9 win was man-of-the-match Richard Murray – who registered 1-2 from play– and just as he tallied the vital scores in the county final win over Loughrea, the former Galway star, once again, was proof of that old adage in that whatever about form, class is permanent.

St Thomas’s had led at half-time by 1-7 to 1-5 following a topsy-turvy half but when Kilcormac/Killoughey rallied in the third quarter to hit four unanswered points, the Galway champions suddenly were staring defeat in the face after falling two points behind heading into the closing stages.

As the old Bonnie Tyler tune went, St Thomas’s were ‘Holding out for a Hero’ and he duly arrived when the game needed saving and two points from Murray – who had netted St Thomas’s first half goal – on 46 and 48 minutes tied up the game at 1-9 apiece.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.