Loughrea retain Senior Hurling Title with win over St Thomas’
By Conall Diggin
Loughrea’s slick play on an even slicker night proved the difference between the two sides as they beat local rivals St Thomas’ 1-15 to 1-14.
Loughrea finally beat their bogey team, having only beaten St Thomas’ once in their last nine attempts,giving Thomas’ their first Senior Championship Final loss.
In the elements, Loughrea had the better of the first half, scoring the match’s first three points in the opening three minutes.
St Thomas’ started to find their footing a few minutes later as championship top scorer Cian Cooney’s point was quickly followed by a lovely strike on the near sideline from Darren Farrell.
The two sides traded points throughout the half until the 22nd minute, where another barrage of three points in three minutes from Loughrea’s full-forward line saw the cup holder extend their lead to five.
The poor weather didn’t allow for many breaking balls, but just before half-time, one did skim off the surface to find Darren Shaughnessy just outside the box before he pulled wide, wasting a golden opportunity for Loughrea.
With two added minutes, the sides traded frees as Loughrea half-back Shane Morgan struck one over from the halfway line, sending ‘the town’ into the break up 0-11 to 0-06.
The second half started well for St Thomas’ as Darren Farrell was fouled twice in the opening minutes, with Cooney converting the subsequent frees to cut the deficit to three.
The fighting wasn’t just limited to the scoreboard, as a scuffle broke out between the two sides in the 34th minute, resulting in yellow cards for Conor Cooney and his opposite number, Tiernan Killeen.
The Loughrea linkup between the full-forward line of Anthony Burns, Darren Shaughnessy, and Vince Morgan continued in the 41st minute. One of the scores of the match came as a result of a ball from Burns being fired across the park to Shaughnessy, who juggled it over the head of a St Thomas defender and scored his second point of the night.
Loughrea had multiple chances to put the game to rest as Morgan rifled a shot off the crossbar with fifteen minutes to go. That chance was followed up in the 50th minute as a Tiernan Killeen pass found Morgan in on goal, batting it across the face of goal and dribbling wide, one of fifteen wides for ‘the town’ on the night.
These missed opportunities almost came back to bite them late on, as St Thomas would continue to chip away at the lead, with the scoreboard showing 0-15 Loughrea, 0-13 St Thomas as the board went up for five additional minutes.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man, as Loughrea’s Darren Shaughnessy turned on a sixpence to beat Cian Mahoney, and this time they would get their goal and send the Loughrea faithful into raptures on the brink of back-to-back titles for the first time in the club’s history.
Even on the night after Halloween there were some leftover fireworks, as a late Conor Cooney free would evade the men on the line and find the back of the net with under a minute to play, leaving the crowd on the edge of their seats.
But it would be too little too late, as the final whistle blew, the blue and gold of Loughrea would have its golden moment, being crowned senior hurling champions for the second time in two years and taking the Tom Callinan Cup home down the M18.
Referee: Liam Gordon (Killimor).
Loughrea: Gearoid Loughnane; Paul Hoban, Johnny Coen, Kieran Hanrahan; Brian Keary, Shane Morgan (0-02, 0-02f), Joe Mooney; Ian Hanrahan (0-01), Cullen Killeen; Caimin Killeen, Tiernan Killeen (0-03, 0-02f), Jamie Ryan; Anthony Burns (0-05), Darren Shaughnessy (1-02), Vince Morgan (0-02).
Subs: Martin McManus for Burns (18-20), McManus for Ryan (57), Sean Sweeney for Ian Hanrahan (62), Alan Kelly for Cullen Killeen (64), Neil Keary for Burns (65).
St Thomas’: Gerald Kelly; Cian Mahony, Fintan Burke, John Headd; Evan Duggan, Shane Cooney, Conor Headd, David Burke, Damien McGlynn; Darragh Burke (0-01), Conor Cooney (1-10, 1-09f), Eanna Burke; Evan Brady, Darren Farrell (0-02), Victor Manso (0-01).
Subs: Cathal Burke for Duggan (46), James Regan for McGlynn (46), Damien Finnerty for Brady (57).
