How St Thomas’ became Galway hurling’s fifth modern-day dynasty
St. Thomas manager John Burke is congratulated by Kenneth Burke after the 2012 Galway SHC final, the club's first title in this remarkable spell. Picture: Ray Ryan
St Thomas’ are the fifth club dynasty to emerge in Galway since the county made its modern-day hurling breakthrough in 1975 when they won the National League.
There had been superpowers in Galway prior to that, not least Castlegar who top the roll of honour with 17 titles but have not won since 1984, while Turloughmore won six in a row in the sixties. Ardrahan, Tynagh and Liam Mellows all had great periods but the breakthrough by the league-winning team of ’75 heralded a new era for hurling in the county.
Since then five clubs who never won a county title prior to that have dominated the landscape with Kiltormer, Sarsfields, Athenry, Portumna, and St Thomas’ winning 31 of the 45 crowns since 1976, going on to win 11 All-Ireland club titles between them in a 23-year period.
There is no common thread as to why these five came through other than that league-winning team led by John Connolly heralded an explosion of hurling activity throughout the county.
Hurling was present in all these five dynasties down through the decades but Galway’s emergence from the doldrums, crowned by that unforgettable 1980 All-Ireland win, sparked a frenzy and some clubs who were organised took off.
Three of the dynasties are rural. Sarsfields and St Thomas’ are amalgamations from about a half-century ago when a concerted underage drive led to the revival at county level in the 1970s. Kiltormer came through and dominated but relegation and declining numbers resulted in them since amalgamating at underage level with Mullagh.
Athenry and Portumna are vibrant towns with big schools and population. They have declined since their heyday and may or may not re-emerge. Recent underage success would indicate that Clarinbridge, who won their first title in 2001 and last in 2010, could be the next dynasty but Turloughmore have shown in recent years that underage titles are no guarantee of senior success. Maybe dethroning St Thomas’ tomorrow could be the start of the Clarinbridge era?
Some players who tasted success with the dynasties went on to manage them to success. Johnny Kelly and Jimmy Heverin in Portumna, Michael Conneely with Sarsfields, were among them, but a new milestone could be created tomorrow if Kenneth Burke guides St Thomas’ to their fourth title in a row, less than a decade after his father John steered them to their maiden crown. It’s believed it would be the first time a father and son have managed their club to the Galway title.
St Thomas’, largely made up of a couple of hundred houses straddling the road from Loughrea to Gort, burst on the scene in 2012. Kenneth Burke was the eldest of six sons of the manager who guided them to that unforgettable win over neighbours Loughrea and now he is hoping to emulate his father in his first season in charge.
Four of his brothers are still playing — Eanna is only 26 and is going for his sixth medal — but a lot of the side have been replaced over the years as St Thomas’ continued to work hard at their underage structures after the initial senior success. Kenneth Burke cut his teeth as a coach working with the underage sides in the club, progressing on to join Jeffrey Lynskey’s Galway minor management team in 2018 and continuing with the U20s through to this year, while he spent last year coaching Kinvara in the Galway SHC.
But he had a dozen years of adult hurling under his belt as a player before he tasted senior success for the first time in 2012. He was only 16 when he lined out for St Thomas’ in the 2000 intermediate championship, helping them win it in 2004 and move up to senior.
“Those first few years at senior were fairly bleak, there were a lot of defeats and hard days,” recalls Burke. “I suppose we were lucky in a small club that a few groups of brothers, the Murrays, Kellys, Skehills, Cooneys and ourselves came along around the same time to win the first one.”
His father, a former Galway underage midfielder, steered them to success again in 2016 and while there was never a direct handover of managerial reins — Kevin Lally, one of Henry Shefflin’s new selectors, came in from Padraig Pearse’s and steered them to the last three titles — Kenneth Burke said that basics were instilled in him.
“When you go to sessions you need to bring massive energy to the team. The squad looks to you for energy and where that session and the group is going and you need to be energetic and positive and believe in the players. You need to build that rapport and it doesn’t matter whether they are your brothers or your sons, you have to have respect both ways.
“Also, there’s an awful lot of work gone on in the club down through the years to get us where we are. There are people there who battled away for years to get us where we are and we owe it to them to do the best of whatever role we have. That’s not too much to ask.”
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