Dunloy 1-14

 St Thomas’ 0-13

John McIntyre at Croke Park

SOMETIMES it just doesn’t happen for teams. Sunday at Croke Park was one of those wretched days for a St Thomas’ outfit which failed to fire or do themselves justice in suffering a shock All-Ireland Club semi-final defeat.

Making their disjointed and flat display more baffling was that the Galway champions were on a mission in 2022, desperate to atone for a gut-wrenching loss to Ballyhale Shamrocks at the same stage of the championship last January.

In the interim, St Thomas’ had successfully negotiated their way through a marathon domestic campaign in achieving a landmark fifth consecutive county title. They had survived two epic final tussles with Loughrea, and the path had been cleared to improve on a moderate All-Ireland semi-final record – two wins from five previous appearances.

With a Dunloy team which had been arguably lucky to dethrone Slaughtneil in the Ulster final in the other corner, it looked set up for St Thomas’ to reach a third All-Ireland final. Instead, they were a pale shadow of their normal selves in tamely exiting the chase for the Tommy Moore Cup.

Perhaps, the calf injury sustained by Darragh Burke in the warm-up which prevented him from starting unsettled them; perhaps, the continued absence of injury victims David Sherry, James Regan and Shane Cooney caught up with them; perhaps, they were feeling the effects of a long campaign; perhaps, they have suddenly gone over the hill.

All we know for sure is that St Thomas’ were miles off their normal standards. They were untypically wasteful – amassing a total of 15 wides – and lacked their usual cohesion and sharpness. Furthermore, coming off the high of doing the five-in-a-row and facing into an All-Ireland semi-final as red-hot favourites possibly left them mentally vulnerable.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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