Dunloy Cuchullains (Antrim) 1-14
St Thomas’ (Galway) 0-13
Paul Keane reports from Croke Park
DUNLOY CELEBRATED A landmark win after holding off a fancied St Thomas’ to secure a surprise AIB All-Ireland club SHC final spot.
Conal Cunning’s seven-point haul was central to what is the first semi-final win for an Ulster side since Cushendall beat Sarsfields, also of Galway, in 2016.
Dunloy themselves haven’t been to a national decider since coming up short of Newtownshandrum in 2004 and will take on reigning champions Ballygunner or Ballyhale Shamrocks in the decider on the weekend of 21/22 January.
The Ulster champions, who defeated old rivals Slaughtneil in the provincial decider, were full value for this victory which was lit up by a terrific 45th minute solo goal from Keelan Molloy.
That major helped Dunloy to lead by six points approaching the final quarter though a resurgent St Thomas’ cut the gap down to just two points with four minutes remaining.
From there, Dunloy showed all their class to surge clear again with scores from Nigel Elliott, Cunning and Eamon Smyth.
St Thomas’, the overwhelming favourites after retaining their Galway title by beating Loughrea in a replay, were fortunate to be on level terms at half-time, 0-6 to 0-6.
In that opening half, Dunloy registered seven wides and, crucially, had a penalty saved.
Cunning presided over that 19th minute penalty after Conor Cooney’s crude rugby style drag down of Seann Elliott who’d played a neat one-two with Nigel Elliott to get into a goalscoring position.
St Thomas’ goalkeeper Gerald Kelly came to Cooney and his team’s rescue with a terrific save, getting down low to his right to scoop away Cunning’s effort.
Nigel Elliott, who’d earlier opened the scoring with a first minute point for the northerners, also had a half chance for a goal when his 27th minute ground stroke flew wide.
All of those missed opportunities meant that it was St Thomas’ who led by 0-5 to 0-3 after the opening quarter though, with a string of wides themselves, they were less than impressive.
Kenneth Burke’s side appeared to struggle with the swirling wind as they attacked into the Hill 16 End of the field and Cooney drilled three frees in a row wide at one stage.
St Thomas’ went with talisman David Burke, wearing number nine, in the pivotal centre-back position again, freeing up Mark Caulfield, wearing number six, to operate in the half-forward line.
That switch paid off handsomely in the defeat of Loughrea when Caulfield pinched 1-3 and he struck another fine point here, splitting the posts from a tricky angle out on the right wing.
It was far from vintage fare but Dunloy, who introduced Paul Shiels at half-time, weren’t complaining as they forged a point and then two clear in the third quarter.
Both of those points came from Cunning who added another in the 43rd minute to open up a three-point lead.
Three minutes later, the margin was out to six points at 1-10 to 0-7 following Molloy’s expert solo goal when he took off through the centre of the St Thomas’ defence, following a terrific fetch and lay-off by Nigel Elliott, and volleyed to the corner.
St Thomas’ threw the kitchen sink at it late on, moving Conor Cooney into the full-forward line but they couldn’t rescue the game and slipped to an agonising defeat, their third in a row.
Dunloy scorers: Conal Cunning 0-7 (3f, 0-1 65), Keelan Molloy 1-2, Nigel Elliott 0-2, Anton McGrath, Seann Elliott, Eamon Smyth 0-1 each.
St Thomas’ scorers: Conor Cooney 0-6 (4f), Damien McGlynn, Mark Caulfield 0-2 each, Oisin Flannery, Evan Duggan, Eanna Burke 0-1 each.
Dunloy Cuchullains
1. Ryan Elliott
2. Phelim Duffin
3. Ryan McGarry
4. Oran Quinn
7. Eamon Smyth
6. Kevin Molloy
5. Aaron Crawford
9. Eoin McFerran
17. Conor Kinsella
12. Nigel Elliott
13. Keelan Molloy
10. Ronan Molloy
21. Decky Smith
14. Conal Cunning
15. Seann Elliott
Subs:
18. Anton McGrath for Smith (29)
8. Paul Shiels for Crawford (33)
20. Nicky McKeague for Nigel Elliott (58)
11. Gabriel McTaggart for Ronan Molloy (62)
St Thomas’
1. Gerald Kelly
3. Fintan Burke
2. Cian Mahony
4. John Headd
5. Evan Duggan
9. David Burke
7. Cathal Burke
8. Bernard Burke
11. Conor Cooney
6. Mark Caulfield
12. Oisin Flannery
15. Damien McGlynn
13. Victor Manso
19. Brendan Farrell
14. Eanna Burke
Subs:
17. Conor Headd for Farrell (h/t)
18. Shane Cooney for Manso (42)
10. Darragh Burke for Caulfield (52)
Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow).
