LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago
Cappataggle 1-15
St. Thomas’ 0-15
Loughrea 3-16
Clarinbridge 1-16
By Kevin Egan at Kenny Park
THE FALL OF the All-Ireland champions will be the story that will reverberate around the country this afternoon as St. Thomas crashed out of the Galway senior hurling championship at the semi-final stage.
Around the Cappataggle heartlands in east Galway however, this will be celebrated as a momentous win for a club that were in danger of being seen as perennial bridesmaids.
Oisín Finn’s goal with six minutes to play proved to be the crucial score in their tense battle at Kenny Park, though a lot of the luck that they missed out on over the past decade came back their way today.
Finn for the win?
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What a goal to give Cappataggle the lead late on.
| @TheBrooks_Group SHC Semi Final @StThomassHC 0-14 @cappataggle 1-13
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After losing four consecutive semi-finals and two quarter-finals in recent years, Cappataggle were perceived to have missed their window of opportunity, while St. Thomas’ win over a highly-rated Turloughmore side last time out seemed to dismiss any notion that Kenneth Burke’s All-Ireland champions were losing a step.
Éanna Burke had the chance to get St. Thomas out to a dream start when he fired for goal in the second minute, but James Skehill turned Burke’s shot around the post, and Cappy’s reprieve was completed when Conor Cooney pushed the 65 wide.
Uncharacteristically poor free-taking from Cooney was a factor in the game, as was Niall Collins’ accuracy on the other side, while good scores from Ja Mannion and Darragh Dolan helped Cappataggle to lead by 0-9 to 0-5, then 0-9 to 0-7 by half-time.
When St. Thomas’ started the second half as they finished the first with Cooney and Éanna Burke linking up well and completing a run of six unanswered, it looked for all the world as if another tale of heartbreak was unfolding for Cappataggle. A couple of big defensive plays from James and Michael Garvey kept them in the game however, and that was enough for them to hang in and strike, Finn rifling the ball into the top corner from 20 metres out when many would have taken a point.
Cappy had to ride their luck in the closing stages. Victor Manso found the top corner but Damien Finnerty was deemed to have thrown him the ball, while Éanna Burke might also have been fouled with a late attack that would have led to a 20m free in front of the posts, though Liam Gordon felt otherwise. Even still, Burke did have one late effort from an impossibly tight angle that came back into play off the near post, as the All-Ireland champions fought to the death before their season was brought to an end.
Loughrea will be Cappataggle’s opponents in Athenry in two weeks in the final, following their defeat of Clarinbridge in the second game of the double header.
The foundations for the town’s win were laid in the first half when two goals from Darren Shaughnessy helped them to a fully-deserved 2-11 to 0-9 lead, which allowed them to see their way through a 12-minute scoreless period in the second half. Kieran Hanrahan, Shane Morgan and Seán Sweeney all impressed in sash jerseys in that period, as they kicked off a defensive performance that restricted Clarinbridge to just five scores from play in the hour.
Like Conor Cooney in the first game, Clarinbridge’s Evan Niland struggled from placed balls, and with five minutes gone in the second half, had missed four opportunities that he would normally score. Still they persisted however, and the introduction of Cian Sammon as a physical presence on the edge of the Loughrea square changed the game. He bulldozed his way through to fire in a goal that re-energized his team, and in a tense battle where conditions were deteriorating rapidly, the lead was briefly cut to three points.
Anthony Burns’ ended Loughrea’s drought with a close range score while Cullen Killeen also came off the bench to register a crucial point for the Loughrea men, but they couldn’t be sure of their progression until Burns picked up a good pass from Killeen in the left corner and drove through on goal, whipping a shot off the ground and inside the far post in the last minute of normal time.
