Burke blasts St Thomas' to record sixth Galway title in a row

The champions maintained their record of winning all eight Galway finals they have appeared in since 2012.

Conor Walsh of Turloughmore in action against David Sherry of St Thomas during the Galway County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Turloughmore and St Thomas at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Ray Ryan/Sportsfile

Galway SHC Final: St Thomas’ 2-12 Turloughmore 1-13 

St Thomas’ captured their sixth Galway SHC title in a row, equalling the record set by Turloughmore in the 1960s, as Eanna Burke shot 2-2 from play to see them over the line.

The champions always held an edge, maintaining their record of winning all eight Galway finals they have appeared in since 2012.

And it’s more final heartbreak for Turloughmore who also lost the 2020 final to St Thomas’ and who had hoped to preserve the record held by their predecessors in the 1960s.

Turloughmore opted to play with the wind but their hopes of a bright start in front of 7,148 were dashed as the champions raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after ten minutes with Darragh Burke notching two of them after Shane Cooney got them off the mark inside 22 seconds and his older brother Conor landed a free from distance.

Conor Walsh finally got Turloughmore off the mark with a free from the right after 12 minutes but their attack was struggling to make inroads against a solid defence from St Thomas’.

St Thomas’ struck a huge blow a minute later when Eanna Burke took down a delivery from Damien Finnerty and dispatched it to the net to lead by 1-4 to 0-1.

Turloughmore responded well with two points from Sean O’Hanlon and another free from Walsh to cut the gap to a goal after 19 minutes but two superb efforts from Victor Manso put St Thomas’ ahead by double scores.

Conor Cooney, who played a deep role against the wind, uncharacteristically missed a second free and Turloughmore finished the half strongly with another Walsh free being followed by a flurry of three points in stoppage time as they finally got moving for Jamie Holland, Matthew Tarpey and Cillian Whelan to shoot good points and cut the gap to 1-6 to 0-8 at the interval.

A Walsh free levelled the sides two minutes after the restart before they hit the front for the first time when O’Hanlon got his third of the game with a superb effort from the left.

St Thomas’ hit back and Conor Cooney tied the game with a free, their first score in 21 minutes, and then Oisin Flannery edged them in front after superbly blocking Daniel Loftus to lead by 1-8 to 0-10 after 42 minutes.

Walsh’s fifth free levelled the game going into the final quarter but then Conor Cooney sent an indirect free 50 metres back to brother Shane and he landed his second point of the clash to restore their lead.

St Thomas’ then brought in Galway’s 2017 All-Ireland winning captain David Burke, who only underwent a cruciate operation back in April, on for the closing stages.

They pushed on from there and two points from Eanna Burke and one from play by Conor Cooney put St Thomas’ 1-12 to 0-11 in front before Turloughmore hit back with a couple of points from Walsh, the latter tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Gerald Kelly to cut the gap to two.

A long sideline by David Burke saw Conor Cooney pounced to set up Eanna Burke for the goal that clinched the title despite a late rally from Turloughmore yielding a goal from a free from Galway captain Daithi Burke but it wasn’t enough to save the day.

Scorers for St Thomas’: E Burke 2-2, C Cooney 0-3 (0-1f), S Cooney 0-2, Darragh Burke 0-2, V Manso 0-2, O Flannery 0-1.

Scorers for Turloughmore: C Walsh 0-7 (0-6f), D Burke 1-0f, S O’Hanlon 0-3, C Whelan 0-1, J Holland 0-1, M Tarpey 0-1.

ST THOMAS’: G Kelly; C Mahony, F Burke, D Sherry; J Headd, S Cooney, C Burke; J Regan, D Finnerty; E Duggan, C Cooney, Darragh Burke; V Manso, E Burke, O Flannery. 

Subs: D McGlynn for Manso (50), David Burke for Duggan (54), B Burke for Darragh Burke (59), C Headd for C Burke (61), E Brady for J Headd (65).

TURLOUGHMORE: D Walsh; D Whelan, R Burke, M Murphy; V Doyle, D Burke, D Loftus; T Quirke, S Linnane; S O’Hanlon, J Holland, C Whelan; C Walsh, B Phelan, M Tarpey. 

Subs: S Loftus for Phelan (46), B Connolly for Tarpey (57), C Shaughnessy for Quirke (63), M Morris for Doyle (64).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Killimor)