Late drama and dominant displays: Galway Senior Hurling Championship recap.
By James Ffrench
Craughwell, Turloughmore, St Thomas’ and Loughrea all advanced to the last four of the Senior Hurling Championship this weekend.
Meanwhile, Liam Mellows and Ahascragh Fohenagh will contest the 2025 Senior B final this year.
There was plenty of drama across all games, starting on Saturday as Craughwell toppled Sarsfields 2-24 to 3-19, with a remarkable final 90 seconds of hurling transpiring in Kenny Park.
Diarmuid MacCárthaigh looked to have won the game for Sarsfields with an 81st minute goal but a mere 40 seconds later Adam Clarke responded with a major himself to see Craughwell through to the last four.
The other game on Saturday was slightly more straight forward as Turloughmore hit five goals in a 5-16 to 0-21 victory over Oranmore-Maree.
Sunday saw even more drama with St Thomas’ who relied on a last minute Victor Manso goal to down Tommy Larkins 1-18 to 0-19.
Galway intercounty star Conor Cooney , who finished with 0-10 for the day, was crucial for the former six in a row champions. While Victor Manso and Darragh Burke also made key contributions of 1-02 and 0-02 from play respectively.
Conor Slattery and Ronan Murphy led the charge for Larkins who have failed yet again to make it through to the semi-finals.
On Sunday Clarinbridge and Loughrea played out a cracker in Kenny Park in what was a repeat of last year’s semi-final.
Loughrea once again came out on top by the bare minimum on a scoreline of 1-18 to 2-14.
A goal from Anthony Burns proved decisive for the reigning champions despite the best effort of Aaron Niland who scored both of Clarinbridge’s goals.
Also on Sunday the Senior B semi-finals took place with Liam Mellows defeating Kilnadeema-Leitrim 2-23 to 2-21 thanks to two goals from Conor Hynes.
They will face Ahascragh Fohenagh in the final which will take place in two weeks time, after they got the better of Ballinderreen 0-21 to 0-17.
The senior A semi-finals will also take place in a fortnight with Pearse Stadium hosting Craughwell V St.Thomas’ and Turloughmore V Loughrea.
