St Thomas’ 0-19

Turloughmore 1-15

UNTIL they’re gone, they are not gone!

Champions St Thomas’ edged a critical step closer to local hurling immortality when surviving a serious examination from 14-man Turloughmore in the county senior hurling quarter-final at Kenny Park on Sunday.

Well beaten by Tommy Larkins and needing a stoppage time goal to force a draw with Gort in the group stages, St Thomas’ came into this repeat of last year’s county final under something of a cloud and with more than a little to prove – a kind of mad scenario for the reigning All-Ireland club champions.

Even the bookmakers had the temerity to make Turloughmore favourites to turn the tables on the title holders, and with most neutrals forecasting the ending of St Thomas’ long reign, Kenneth Burke’s team were not short of motivation heading into the fixture.

No wonder a big crowd turned up to see a potential changing of the guard, and if you were told beforehand that St Thomas’ ‘big three’ of David Burke, Conor Cooney and Eanna Burke would only manage a solitary point from play between them, you’d be thinking a great team had reached the end of the road.

But St Thomas’ haven’t dominated club hurling in the county for over six years without continually getting it right on the days that count. Once again, they hit form at just the right time with Fintan Burke and Cian Mahony both having stormers.

Burke, in particular, was a force of nature, capping a great display with a mighty second-half point from a position nearly closer to the village of Craughwell than the Turloughmore posts. There were also significant contributions from Gerald Kelly, John Headd, the long-serving Cathal Burke – who popped up with a priceless last point – Shane Cooney, the lively Oisín Flannery, Evan Duggan, and Evan Brady, late on.

Yet, it is uncertain how the result would have panned out only for the baffling dismissal of the influential Tom Quirke, who was sent off on a second yellow card in the 41st minute after an incident involving David Burke. Video evidence confirms Quirke was hard done by as he accidentally collided with the former Galway captain.

Was it a game changer? Probably. At that juncture, the challengers were 1-10 to 0-11 in front and though they still held a narrow lead in injury-time, their numerical disadvantage finally caught up with them as tense struggle for supremacy exploded into life over the final 10 minutes.

Pictured: Turloughmore’s Dara Whelan is challenged by David Burke of St Thomas’ during Sunday’s senior hurling quarter-final at Kenny Park. Photo: David Cunniffe.