Gort fought back to draw County Cup semi-final

Published: Wed 31 Oct 2012, 10:10 AM

By JIM CARNEY Gort (holders) .0-9 St Thomas's .0-9 A WELL-CONTESTED first semi-final in the Athenry SHC double-bill on Sunday, with title-holders Gort hugely relieved that midfielder Aidan Harte pointed an injury-time 65 to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. St Thomas's, one of the most exciting young teams to emerge onto the big stage for many years, can have no complaints. They had enough scoring chances to win a game in which they were never led; indeed Gort were behind all the way until the 2nd minute of injury-time. Also, St Thomas' showed their inexperience several times by not getting on with the game when they got frees; in that regard they cost themselves precious minutes and they paid the price for it in the closing stages as Gort, much more steady and composed, slowly but surely got to level-pegging. You could see it coming from a long way back, even though the champions didn't point all their frees, and it was a big decision to switch freetakers for the match-saving 65. Well done to joint-managers Conor O'Donovan and John Commins for making the call on it in a high-pressure situation and Aidan Harte, to his immense credit, didn't let them down. St Thomas's led by three points at the interval, 0-6 to 0-3, having played with the wind, and the young county man Conor Cooney was doing very well at centre-forward. So too were Robert Murray, SeÃƒÂ¡n Burke and Darragh Burke in defence, while one of their most experienced players, Richie Murray, hit two points in that first half. Gort had three points from frees by Gerard Quinn in reply, and it must have been a big worry for the champions that nobody else was scoring for them. At the end of the day, Gerry Quinn had shot seven of his side's nine points. It was strange to see such fast, delightfully skilful forwards as Richie Cummins and Gerard O'Donoghue held scoreless although, in fairness to their style of play, the weather was so bad they could be excused. At the other end of the field, Gort missed the leadership and steadying influence of Andy Coen, the powerful man who led them to County Cup glory last year, and the St Thomas' forwards won plenty of quality ball in both halves. One man did stand out for Gort in defence: right half-back Jason Grealish is a really good hurler. And when the pressure was turned up a few times in the second half, another Gort defender responded superbly: Sylvie Ãƒâ€œg Linnane. Three times he came out from tough tussles with the sliotar hard won but well won. It reminded me of the old country saying: 'An ounce of breeding is worth a ton of feeding!' St Thomas's from Kilchreest, Castledaly and Peterswell are coming fast and there's probably a County Cup in them inside the next few years but Gort will be favourites to win next Sunday's replay, again at Kenny Park, although they'll need more than frees to set up a County final clash with Loughrea. Ã¢€Â¨Ã¢€Â¨Gort: P. Cummins; C. Helebert, M. McMahon, M. Cummins; J. Grealish, S. Ãƒâ€œg Linnane, B. Regan; G. Quinn (0-7, six frees, one 65), A. Harte (0-1, a 65); K. Killilea, P. Killilea (0-1), G Lally; G. O'Donoghue, O. Fahy, R. Cummins. Ã¢€Â¨Ã¢€Â¨Sub., A. Mullins, for K. Killilea, 44 mins. St. Thomas's: P. Skehill; C. Burke, Robert Murray, S. Burke; E. Tannion, S. Skehill, Darragh Burke; K. Burke, David Burke (0-1); B. Burke, C. Cooney (0-5, three frees), Richard Murray (0-2); G. Murray, A. Kelly, J. Regan (0-1). Ã¢€Â¨Ã¢€Â¨Subs., S. Cooney, for G. Murray, half-time; E. Burke, for Kelly, 52 mins. Referee: John Keane. Herald Sport Man of the Match: Robert Murray (St Thomas's).