St Thomas’ 0-20
Clarinbridge 0-17
John Fallon reports at Pearse Stadium
CAPTAIN CONOR COONEY led the way as St Thomas’ captured their sixth Galway SHC title in ten years with another accomplished display.
It’s St Thomas’ fourth title in a row — Cooney has skippered them to all four — as they maintained their record of never having lost a final.
Clarinbridge, bidding to turn underage success into their third senior title, were in contention throughout the champions were superb in the tight exchanges and picked off some excellent scores.
The sides were level four times in the opening 17 minutes, with Clarinbridge taking the lead each time before the champions responded but then after the first water break St Thomas’ pulled clear with Darragh Burke, Conor Cooney and James Regan shooting points to lead by 0-7 to 0-4.
Clarinbridge hit back with Evan Niland getting his second pointed free before Darragh Burke restored the goal lead with his second point.
Mark Kennedy got his second point for Clarinbridge and centre-back TJ Brennan also found the target, with two more frees from Cooney leaving three clear going into stoppage time at the end of the opening half.
Clarinbridge finished the half strongly and a good point from the left by Gavin Lee and a third free from Niland left them trailing by just 0-10 to 0-9 at the break.
Oisin Flannery for St Thomas’ and Lee exchanged good points directly after the restart before Cooney and Eanna Burke hit the target to push the holders 0-13 to 0-10 after 37 minutes.
Eanna Burke pushed the lead out to four and they took that advantage into the second water break after Flannery and Regan hit the target for St Thomas’ and Niland landed two more frees for Clarinbridge.
But with Cooney leading the way, St Thomas’ kept a safe distance between and while Niland kept Clarinbridge in contention, they never looked like getting in for the goal they needed as the champions continued their brilliant run of success.
Scorers for St Thomas’: Conor Cooney 0-11 (0-6f), Darragh Burke 0-2, Oisin Flannery 0-2, James Regan 0-2, Eanna Burke 0-2, David Burke 0-1.
Scorers for Clarinbridge: Evan Niland 0-10 (0-9f), Gavin Lee 0-2, Mark Kennedy 0-2, TJ Brennan 0-1, Mikey Daly 0-1, Niall Armstrong 0-1.
St Thomas
1 Gerald Kelly
2 Cian Mahony, 3 Fintan Burke, 4 David Sherry
5 Evan Duggan, 6 Shane Cooney, 7 Cathal Burke
8 David Burke, 9 Bernard Burke
12 James Regan, 11 Conor Cooney, 14 Darragh Burke
15 Damien McGlynn, 13 Oisin Flannery, 10 Eanna Burke
Substitutes:
21 Victor Manso for B Burke (50)
20 Brendan Farrell for McGlynn (50)
18 Damien Finnerty for E Burke (60)
Clarinbridge:
1 Aaron Binden
4 Oisin Salmon, 3 Ian O’Brien, 2 Christy Bannon
5 Shane Ryan, 6 TJ Brennan, 8 Sean Kilduff
7 Shane Bannon, 9 Patrick Foley
10 Mikey Daly, 11 Evan Niland, 13 Mark Kennedy
15 Niall Armstrong, 14 Cian Salmon, 12 Gavin Lee
Substitutes:
19 Liam Leen for Armstrong (44)
Referee: Liam Gordon (Killimor).
Its a good team, much more attacking based then most thought and Deans at last looks like he is rewarding players on form and not solely on name
Lealifiano at 12 is a superb player who offer much more than the direct pat maccabe. Like Barnes he can also change to 10 so that gives good interchanging options on who will be the first receiver. Folau has been a sensation and due to his state of origin experience shouldnt be too fazed in his debut. Lions will do well not to kick often to the former AFL man. With Digby recovered from injury and Beale on the bench the backline is dangerous. Ben Mowen is the leading lineout taker in the super comp and has been outstanding captaining the Brumbies this year. Young Hooper at seven dominated the end of year tour last autumn and is supported from the bench by another outstanding young fletcher in Gill.
However questions still remaining over JOC ten and the headspace of Beale…
One in 4 year event, one in 12 for the wallabies, should be an absolute belter
I think joc is starting ten rather than fb or wing due to his defensive ability as the lions tactics have been to vash it down the ten chanel and then spread it wide o putting joc there means it wont be as successful. Also with barnes and lealifano there i’d say they’ll kick for territory before giving it to ashly-cooper,folau,ioane and they’ll probably kick to north and cuthbert z lot seeing as how neither plyer kicks the ball much and there for win the kicking battle giving them the territory they need to get ioane and folau into the game and that will be where they are most dangerous. The pack also has the ability to play a tight game. Everyone is saying that the lions have great strength in depth but so do the wallabies and they have a much superior bench. So seeing as the first match is at suncorp which is historically a good hunting ground for the aussies that coupled with how much we underestimate them and they’re better gench means, its set up for a 2-1 series win for the wallabies