The Tommy Moore Cup is up for grabs this afternoon as St Thomas face off against Kilcormac-Killoughey in Croke Park. We’ll be keeping tabs on all the action with throw-in at 2pm.

It’s the first All-Ireland club appearance for both these clubs in what is a hugely novel clash. St Thomas got the better of reigning champions Loughgiel Shamrocks by 0-16 to 0-7 in their semi-final replay in Clones while the Kilcormac-Killoughey team defeated a star-studded Thurles Sarsfields side by 1-20 to 1-14 in Portlaoise.

The referee for today’s encounter is John Sexton from Cork.

St Thomas will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Galway clubs Castlegar, Kiltormer, Sarsfields, Athenry, Portumna and Clarinbridge, who have all claimed All-Ireland crowns. Birr have been the standard-bearers in Offaly with four titles to their credit.

Offaly hurling great Danny Owens is the Kilcormac-Killoughey manager while John Burke, who has six sons in the St Thomas squad, is at the helm of the Galway champions.

A big setback for Kilcormac-Killoughey last week as Daniel Currams, a key attacker this season, is out injured after breaking his left arm in a challenge game last Sunday.

Here are the starting line-ups for today’s game with the action just under way.

ST THOMAS: Patrick Skehill; Sean Skehill, Robert Murray, Cathal Burke; Enda Tannion, Darragh Burke, Sean Burke; Kenneth Burke, David Burke; Shane Cooney, Conor Cooney, James Regan; Anthony Kelly, Richie Murray, Bernard Burke.

KILCORMAC-KILLOUGHEY: Conor Slevin; James Grogan, Ger Healion, Alan McConville; Kevin Grogan, Peter Healion, Brian Leonard; Damien Kilmartin, Killian Leonard; Ciaran Slevin, Conor Mahon, Peter Geraghty; James Gorman, Trevor Fletcher, Tomas Geraghty.

Wides on both sides in the early stages from Kilcormac’s James Gorman and Bernard Burke of St Thomas.

Kilcormac Killoughey 0-1 St Thomas 0-1: 5 mins – The Offaly champions are off the mark with the first point of the game and it’s their ace free taker Ciaran Slevin who converts a placed ball after Conor Mahon is fouled. But St Thomas bounce back through James Regan who converts a fine point from the left wing.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-2 St Thomas 0-1: 6 mins – Ciaran Slevin has excelled with his marksmanship from frees during this campaign and he shows no signs of letting his standards slip now. He’s just converted a great free from 65 yards out, just in from the Hogan Stand touchline.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-2 St Thomas 0-2: 8 mins – The teams are level again. Richie Murray does brilliantly at full-forward for St Thomas to gain possession, shrug off defensive tackles and hand pass the ball back out for Anthony Kelly to drive the ball between the posts.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-3 St Thomas 0-3: 10 mins – Level once more with Ciaran Slevin cutting a sublime sideline cut over the bar from the Cusack Stand side for the Offaly champions. He’s their only scorer so far whereas three different St Thomas players have got on the board with Bernard Burke just after pointing.

Shooting is gone awry on both sides in the last few moments, the teams are still tied at 0-3 apiece.

St Thomas 0-4 Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-3: 17 mins – Conor Cooney was to the fore for St Thomas in semi-final saga with Loughgiel Shamrocks and he’s just got off the mark in this final from a free.

Goal for Kilcormac-Killoughey from Trevor Fletcher!

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-3 St Thomas 0-4: 19 mins – The first major breakthrough in the game arrives when Trevor Fletcher finds the net for Kilcormac-Killoughey. A high ball broke kindly to the attacker and he dribbled the ball through the defence before booting it to the net from close range. A vital score from a player who only got into the team after Daniel Currams injury.

Yellow card for Kilcormac-Killoughey’s Kevin Grogan after a foul on St Thomas player Bernard Burke.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-3 St Thomas 0-5: 23 mins – Conor Cooney cuts the gap to the minimum with a pointed free for St Thomas.

Goal for St Thomas from Richie Murray!

St Thomas 1-5 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-3: 25 mins – St Thomas hit back with a goal of their own. Conor Cooney strikes in a 20-yard free that is blocked on the line by the Kilcormac-Killoughey defence but after Anthony Kelly’s rebound is blocked, Richie Murray gets in to whip the ball to the net.

St Thomas 1-6 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-4: 27 mins – Ciaran Slevin and Conor Cooney swap pointed frees.

St Thomas 1-7 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-5: 29 mins – He got 0-11 in their semi-final win over Thurles Sarsfields and Ciaran Slevin has made his mark today as well as he hits over another point from a free. But St Thomas respond with a point from midfielder Kenneth Burke after Bernard Burke shows great vision to pick him out.

HT: St Thomas 1-7 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-5: And that’s how it stands at the break with St Thomas making the headway to lead by two points at the interval.

Here’s the scorers from the first-half of today’s game:

St Thomas: Richie Murray 1-0, Conor Cooney 0-3 (0-3f), Anthony Kelly, James Regan, Bernard Burke, Kenneth Burke 0-1 each.
Kilcormac-Killoughey: Ciaran Slevin 0-5 (0-4f, 0-1 sideline), Trevor Fletcher 1-0.

Shane Cooney strikes an early second-half wide for St Thomas. Conditions are difficult for hurling now in Croke Park.

St Thomas 1-7 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-6: 35 mins – Ciaran Slevin taps the ball over the bar from a free for his sixth point of the day. This match is descending into a real battle in wet conditions.

St Thomas 1-7 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-7: 39 mins – It’s level in Croke Park and no surprise who was responsible for the point that has tied the teams. Ciaran Slevin converts another free for Kilcormac-Killoughey.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-8 St Thomas 1-7: 41 mins – And now the Offaly champions have edged ahead with Slevin again on target from a free, just outside the 65-yard line. Eanna Burke is on to the St Thomas team in their attack for Anthony Kelly.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9 St Thomas 1-7: 43 mins – Kilcormac-Killoughey edge in front by two points and it’s Trevor Fletcher, the only scorer other than Ciaran Slevin for the Offaly club today, who is responsible for it. A neat shot off his left after he wriggles clear of the defence.

That was Kilcormac-Killoughey’s first score from play in this game.

Slevin is off target from a ’65 after a superb performance of marksmanship before that. In contrast St Thomas have struggled in the second-half up front so far.

Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9 St Thomas 1-9: 48 mins – St Thomas finally get off the mark in this half through Richie Murray after great work by Kenneth Burke up front. And then Murray follows that up with another points. We’re back level again.

Red card for Kilcormac-Killoughey’s Killian Leonard!

St Thomas 1-10 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9: 53 mins – Kilcormac-Killoughey are down to 14 men after Killian Leonard has been dismissed for a pull on Darragh Burke as the St Thomas player brought the ball out of defence. Now St Thomas have edged in front through Conor Cooney from play after Sean Skehill created the chance.

Mark Leonard is on the Kilcormac-Killoughey team for Trevor Fletcher.

And now Kilcormac-Killoughey are down to 13 men after Damien Kilmartin has been sent-off!

Kilmartin was shown a second yellow card as the Offaly champions suffer another setback. One point between the teams with one minute of normal time remaining.

St Thomas 1-11 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9: 61 mins – Conor Cooney points for St Thomas, could that be the insurance score for the Galway champions?

All over and St Thomas are the 2013 All-Ireland club senior hurling champions!

FT: St Thomas 1-11 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9: St Thomas become the seventh Galway club to claim the All-Ireland senior hurling title with a two-point victory in Croke Park.

St Thomas claim honours after a low-scoring final where both teams found the conditions difficult to handle in Croke Park.

The game was settled in the last ten minutes when Conor Cooney fired over two late points but Kilcormac-Killoughey’s aspirations took a huge setback with the dismissals of Killian Leonard and Damien Kilmartin in the closing stages. The sending-off of Leonard was particularly controversial and some well-known hurling names reckon the wrong decision was made.

Here’s the scorers from today’s game.

St Thomas: Richie Murray 1-2, Conor Cooney 0-5 (0-3f), Anthony Kelly, James Regan, Bernard Burke, Kenneth Burke 0-1 each.
Kilcormac-Killoughey: Ciaran Slevin 0-8 (0-7f, 0-1 sideline), Trevor Fletcher 1-1.

That’s all from us after today’s game. We’ll be back shortly with the coverage of the football decider between St Brigid’s and Ballymun Kickhams.