Galway SHC Semi-Final Results:

St Thomas’ 2-19 Sarsfields 0-15

Loughrea 3-13 Clarinbridge 0-16

CONOR COONEY LED the way to keep St Thomas’ firmly on course for their fifth Galway SHC title in-a-row when they had ten points to spare over Sarsfields in the opening semi-final at Pearse Stadium in Salthill.

They will meet their neighbours Loughrea in the final on 20 November as they bid to become only the third team in Galway to win five in a row.

St Thomas’ advanced to the final with a 2-19 to 0-15 win over Sarsfields, while Loughrea ousted last year’s runners-up Clarinbridge by 3-13 to 0-16. Champions St Thomas’ laid the groundwork in the opening half against the wind and turned around trailing by just 0-12 to 0-9.

That was despite Sarsfields hitting a superb period which saw them pull away with seven points in a row from the 10th minute when newcomer Darren Murphy hit points from opposite wings and with Niall Morrissey adding a couple of frees, they led by 0-9 to 0-4 after 19 minutes.

But Conor Cooney led a strong St Thomas’ response and they were in a strong position when they trailed by just a goal at the break.

Morrissey and 2017 All-Ireland winning captain David Burke exchanged points after the restart but then Victor Manso, on the field less than a minute, found the net after his initial shot was saved by Ciaran Dolan.

Conor Cooney and Morrissey exchanged points to tie the match at 1-11 to 0-14 after 40 minutes but St Thomas’, further boosted by the introduction of Galway player Shane Cooney to the heart of their defence after recovering from a cruciate injury suffered back in January, pulled away with Eanna Burke wrapping up the win with their second goal in the closing minutes.

Loughrea laid the groundwork for their semi-final win over Clarinbridge in the opening half against the wind when they turned around trailing by just 0-12 to 1-7, with both sides failing to make goal chances count.

But Martin McManus did find the net for Loughrea three minutes before the break after an effort from Neil Keary came crashing back off the crossbar to tie the match at 1-6 to 0-9.

Niland was the main threat for Clarinbridge in that opening half, shooting 0-10 with seven of them coming from frees in a half where the sides were level six times.
It took Loughrea less than two minutes to wipe out the lead with points from play by McManus and Keary before another free from Keary put them 1-10 to 0-12 in front after 35 minutes.

Then a good move from Anthony Burns and Killeen ended with Joe Mooney firing home their second goal and McManus pointed to stretch the lead to 2-11 to 0-12 after 37 minutes.

Clarinbridge never gave up but Niland was their only real score threat and his four points after the break were their only scores in the second-half.

Clarinbridge got the gap down to two points through Niland with ten minutes remaining but Loughrea regrouped and McManus, after being denied on the line by Shane Bannon moments earlier, made no mistake to finish his second goal of the match after 51 minutes and ensure their passage to the final where they will take on their neighbours St Thomas’ in two weeks.

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