Galway SHC: Turloughmore and Loughrea fail to make last eight

Pearse Stadium in Salthill, Galway. File photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Four-in-a-row chasing Galway hurling champions St Thomas’ will face the recently crowned intermediate champions Kilconieron in the quarter-finals of this year’s competition.

The four preliminary quarter-finals at the weekend threw up a number of shocks, not least the collapse of last year’s county finalists Turloughmore who led at one stage by 10 points before being caught at the death by Kilnadeema-Leitrim.

Turloughmore led by double scores at 1-9 to 0-6 at the interval after Barry McDonagh found the net after six minutes but a second yellow card to five-time All-Star Daithi Burke was crucial.

Dylan Towolani, a UK-born player of Nigerian descent who moved to his mother’s homeplace in Kilnadeema when he was young, led the fightback when he found the net and Kilnadeema-Leitrim drove on from there. They snatched a 2-17 to 1-17 in stoppage time when Mikey Lynch hit the net to send them into the last eight.

They will now meet Craughwell, who had already qualified along with St Thomas’, Cappataggle, and Tommy Larkins, in the quarter-finals next weekend.

Loughrea, fancied by many as one of the biggest challengers to St Thomas’ reign at the outset of the championship but who failed to spark in the campaign, also bit the dust when they were defeated by 1-10 to 1-7 by Clarinbridge.

A goal from Mark Kennedy gave Clarinbridge a strong platform before Loughrea rallied with a goal from substitute Shane O’Brien but they were unable to save their season.

Portumna, even without the injured Joe Canning, looked set for a shock win over a fancied Gort side when they raced into a 2-9 to 0-8 interval lead.

But Matt Murphy’s charges rallied and edged into the last eight with a 1-22 to 2-18 victory and will now meet Cappataggle in the quarter-finals as they continue their bid for a first title since 2014.

Kilconieron, crowned intermediate champions just over eight weeks ago, continued their remarkable run into senior and having won promotion to Senior A for 2022, they booked a quarter-final showdown with the reigning champions St Thomas’ thanks to an extra-time 2-19 to 0-18 win over Padraig Pearses.

Shane Caulfield’s seventh point of the match looked to have won for Kilconieron in injury-time but Conor Fahy landed a superb point for Pearses to send the match to extra-time at 0-14 each.

However, it was Kilconieron who pushed on and Sean Connaughton struck a telling blow when he scored the first goal of the contest.

Pearses tried to rally but their hopes were dashed when Eamon Hickey got Kilconieron’s second goal and they advanced with seven points to spare and will now have the task of trying to end St Thomas’ reign in next weekend’s quarter-finals.

Galway SHC quarter-finals: St Thomas' v Kilconieron; Craughwell v Kilnadeema/Leitrim; Tommy Larkins v Clarinbridge; Cappataggle v Gort.