St Thomas’ turn the tables on Cashel with a big finish
St. Thomas’ 1-16
Castlegar 0-12
St. Thomas’ made it two wins from three in Group 1 after a dominant second half comeback saw them overcome Castlegar at Pearse Stadium. A strong wind coupled with some heavy showers made for challenging conditions and while neither side were overly impressive, the county champions were able to shift things up a gear when required.
Kevin Lally’s side did not lead in the contest until the 52nd minute but, in truth, they were in command earlier than that. Aided by the elements in the second half, St. Thomas’ outscored Castlegar 1-8 to 0-1 in the final 25 minutes to put a spirited display by the city side to bed.
Oisin Connolly was impressive for Castlegar, particularly in the first half, and the centre forward helped himself to 0-10 overall, including four points from play, but the St. Thomas’ full-back line were effective in shutting down their opponents throughout and when Castlegar had to face into the wind in the second half, they struggled.
Trailing by two at the break, 0-9 to 0-7, Conor Cooney halved the deficit for St. Thomas’ 40 seconds after the restart but, credit to Castlegar, they hit the next two scores and looked as if they could put up a stiff battle for the rest of the half.
Oisin Connolly struck their first score of the half, the sliotar just dropping over the crossbar from 40m, demonstrating the strength of the wind. Connolly was again on hand a couple of minutes later to finish one of the best moves of the match. Some slick short-passing in midfield from Mark Gill, Tomás Mannion and Donal McGreal found Connolly in space and the Castlegar forward struck a sweet effort over the bar from 55m.
Unfortunately for Castlegar, that was as good as things got for them as St. Thomas’ slowly took hold of the contest. A free from Darragh Burke reduced the gap to two, 0-11 to 0-9, after 36 minutes and it was down to one not long after when Burke converted a superb sideline cut.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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