Inside Track with John McIntyre

THERE was loose talk, idle talk and mad talk in Ballinasloe last Saturday. As word filtered through that St Thomas’ were ten points behind Clarinbridge at Kenny Park, the general presumption was that the county champions were really a force in serious amd sudden decline.

Coming on the back of a heavy group loss to Turloughmore in the previous round, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that St Thomas’ were something of a busted flush, but that judgement was a doing a gross and premature disservice to a group of hurlers who have repeatedly done their parish proud over the past decade.

The easy thing for St Thomas’; would have been to accept their seemingly inevitable defeat and to try and regroup for the knockout stages, especially as they were missing towering defender Fintan Burke. But this was the moment when their pride was challenged and how Conor Cooney and company responded in achieving a 4-20 to 4-17 victory.

Second-half goals from Victor Manso, Bernard Burke, Cooney and Darragh Burke saw them emulate last year’s final victory over a Clarinbridge team which must be bitterly disappointed at failing to close the deal. They had looked in control thanks to green flags from TJ Brennan, Mike Daly and Seán Kilduff, but have now failed to win any of their last three championship games.

At Duggan Park around the same time, Turloughmore’s grandstand finish came up just short against Sarsfields. For long periods, they were a team going nowhere, but once they caught fire you could see why they had beaten St Thomas’. Put their 17 wides into the equation, this one-point loss was no disaster.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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