St Thomas’ 4-20
Gort 0-9
John Fallon reports from Pearse Stadium
ST THOMAS’ REMAIN on course for a fourth Galway SHC title in a row after dishing out a 23-point hammering to neighbours Gort in a one-sided semi-final at Pearse Stadium.
The champions, who agreed to defer this fixture for a week to allow Covid-hit Gort time to recover, dominated from the outset and will now be fancied to retain their crown when they play Clarinbridge in the final in two weeks.
St Thomas’ led by 1-10 to 0-5 at half-time having played with the breeze in the opening and they were on top in most of the exchanges throughout the field.
The Gort attack struggled to make an impact, with Aiden Helebert their only player to score in the opening half, shooting four frees and one from play.
St Thomas’, in contrast, had threats throughout and by the interval seven players hit the target with Oisin Flannery and Conor Cooney landing some excellent points.
And the experienced James Regan punished Gort when a puckout from Gerald Kelly broke well for him and he burst through to drill the ball low to the net and make it 1-6 to 0-4 after 20 minutes and they outscored Mattie Murphy’s men by 0-4 to 0-1 before the break.
St Thomas’ killed off any notion of a comeback when Conor Cooney and Damien McGlynn found the net in the opening four minutes of the second-half.
They proceeded to pick off scores at will as the Gort challenge wilted. Flannery got St Thomas’ fourth goal after 46 minutes and Gort finished with 14 men when sub Albert Mullins was sent off.
Scorers for St Thomas’: Conor Cooney 1-10 (0-7f), Oisin Flannery 1-2, Damien McGlynn 1-1, James Regan 1-0, Eanna Burke 0-2, Cathal Burke 0-2, David Burke 0-1, Bernard Burke 0-1, Brendan Farrell 0-1.
Scorers for Gort: Aiden Helebert 0-7 (0-5f), Aidan Harte 0-1, Gerard O’Donoghue 0-1.
St Thomas’
1. Gerald Kelly
2. Cian Mahony
3. Fintan Burke
4. David Sherry
6. Shane Cooney
7. Cathal Burke
5. Evan Duggan
8. David Burke
9. Bernard Burke
12. James Regan
11. Conor Cooney
14. Darragh Burke
20. Damien McGlynn
13. Oisin Flannery
10. Eanna Burke
Substitutes:
21. Victor Manso for Regan (49)
17. Sean Skehill for C Burke (49)
15. Brendan Farrell for E Burke (50)
23. Colin Fallon for Flannery (57)
24. Mark Caulfield for Sherry (58)
Gort
1. Kris Finnegan
2. Sylvie Og Linnane
6. Greg Lally
20. Jason O’Donoghue
9. Jack Grealish
8. Aidan Harte
14. Jason Grealish
22. Darren O’Donoghue
5. Pakie Lally
10. Mike Mullins
11. Aiden Helebert
12. Keelan Higgins
13. Richie Cummins
21. Paddy Commins
15. Gerard O’Donoghue
Substitutes:
18. Albert Mullins for D O’Donoghue (half-time)
7. Jack Linnane for P Lally (half-time)
4. Eoin Cooley for S Linnane (47)
19. R Burke for Higgins (47)
Referee: Shane Hynes (Liam Mellows)
