Anthony Daly: Thomas' needed this - now they are in annals of Tribe's greatest

When Brian Hogan looks back on the final, I’m sure he’ll wonder if he could have gambled a little more.

SAINTS ALIVE: St Thomas’ players, with Damien Finnerty front and centre, celebrate with the Tommy Moore Cup after their thrilling victory over O’Loughlin Gaels of Kilkenny at Croke Park. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

As soon as the final whistle blew yesterday, I left my seat in the Hogan stand and bolted for the car. I’ll say that trying to get down the road ahead of the storm was my excuse for not staying for the football but when I got into the car, Dean Rock was on RTÉ Radio 1 talking to Dessie Cahill about the breeze in Croke Park.

Dean was talking about that subject in the context of Mark Bergin’s late missed free for O’Loughlin Gaels and Eanna Burke’s winning score just beforehand. Dean said that there was never a one-way or straight-forward wind in Croke Park. I often thought as much myself when I was doing co-commentary for radio or TV – you wouldn’t know which way the breeze was going. The breeze is often swirling in Croke Park and that was a key factor in those two late plays.