Sun Aug 6 - Senior Hurling: Fr. Tom's v Galway

Fr. Tom Burke’s 1-14 Galway 2-8

Fr. Tom’s took the fourth game of the championship series with a one goal win.  Tom’s were a step ahead of their opponents for most of the game and in the second half the defence did a superb job of shutting down Galway’s forward line.  A last minute stop from goalkeeper Liam Doyle to deny Galway a last chance equalizer saw Tom’s over the line to reclaim the championship for the first time since 2014.

Fr. Tom's captain Aaron Moore accepts the senior championship trophy.

The first half was evenly contested, as had been the case for each preceding game.  Each half back line held their ground well.  Rob Flynn led the Galway defence, and was excellent throughout for the Tribesman, while it was MJ Sutton for Tom’s who was the rock in the heart of defence.  In hurling terms it was a low scoring affair, plenty of chances went amiss for each side and forwards found it hard to find the extra bit of space to swing for the posts.  Galway tallied the only goal of the half, John Coleman netted from a tight angle after a mazy solo run from Conor Murphy.

MJ Sutton pointed a couple of long range frees and Siofan McMahon found the spot between the posts on a couple occasion with well taken strikes.  Galway tried to target their corner forwards early and often.  Chris Egan and Coleman converted three of Galway’s first half points between them.  At the break it was a one point Galway lead, 1-4 to 0-6.

Galway netted shortly after the restart, with Egan bagging his second of the day.  After that the second half saw the Tom’s defence pick up the pace and swarm the Galway forward line.  With the Galway forwards stifled, Tom’s went to work at the other end of the field.   After a McMahon point, Brian Ramsey netted after Goulding found him unmarked on the edge of the square.  All square heading into the final 20 minutes.

Galway's John Moylan shoots for goal. 

Tom’s went on to score 6 points to one for Galway over the next 20 minutes, and the prospect of Galway forcing a fifth game faded.  McMahon put a couple of nice efforts over from the wing, while Robbie Carew and Goulding chipped in with a couple.  The game was slipping away from Galway and Tom’s were 10 minutes away from claiming the senior hurling championship.

As the minutes ticked away Tom’s kept the defence on lockdown and with a 5 point lead could afford to ship 2 Galway points, but only just.  In the last minute following frantic activity in the Tom’s penalty area, Rob Flynn had the chance to tie the game with a last minute shot from close range, however, Liam Doyle was equal to the task and blocked the shot bravely.  With the puckout that was it, and Tom’s are 2017 senior hurling champions. 

Tom’s:  Liam Doyle, Paul Maher, Donal Coughlin, Shane Taylor, MJ Sutton, Enda Heffernan, Aaron Moore, Shane Ryan, Brian Ramsey, Robbie Carew, Ronan Teehan, Jack Goulding, Stiofan McMahon.

Galway:  Gavin Power, William Hassey, Colm Daly, Jamie Barron, Conor O’Neill, Rob Flynn, Conor Murphy, David O’Grady, Cathal Bolger, David Lordan, John Moylan, Chris Egan, John Coleman.

By Rory O'Donnell