St Thomas’ 2-18

Killimordaly 1-12

By JOHN FALLON at Kenny Park

KILLIMORDALY formed a guard of honour as the reigning Galway and All-Ireland champions ran on to the pristine surface at Kenny Park on Saturday evening, but they then paid them a bigger compliment by getting stuck in and forcing St Thomas’ to dig deep in a good championship contest that had an edge to it throughout.

The underdogs were good value for their four points lead after 25 minutes but they were unable to sustain the challenge even when St Thomas’ were reduced to 14 men shortly before the interval.

Indeed, the straight red card to wing-back John Headd after he contested a dropping ball with the impressive Brian Concannon seemed to have a bigger impact on St Thomas’ and the six-in-a-row champions really dominated the game after that.

It’s 11 weeks since the controversial red card to David Burke when Galway bowed out of the championship against Dublin, but the 2017 All-Ireland winning captain looked sharp and hungry around the middle of the field, setting the stall out early for a big display with two trademark points.

Only time will tell if we see him in maroon again, but anyone who was in Athenry on Saturday evening was left in no doubt that he has still plenty to contribute to St Thomas’.

Quite why we haven’t seen more of his younger brother Eanna in a Galway jersey is a mystery. The hero of their All-Ireland final win back in January took up where he left off and 1-6 from play, along with plenty of other inputs at full-forward, ensured a comfortable start to their Galway SHC campaign as they go in search of an unprecedented seventh successive title.

The county team has been bereft of goals for years but we saw three brilliant ones in this contest. The first came from Killimordaly after four minutes when a superb crossfield pass was taken on the run by Paul Creaven and he held off a couple of defenders before finishing to the net.

Pictured: St Thomas’ Oisin Flannery comes under pressure from David Concannon of Killimordaly during the clubs’ Senior A Championship tie at Kenny Park on Saturday. Photos: Joe O’Shaughnessy.