Dunloy throw off underdog shackles to defeat St Thomas’ and make All-Ireland final

Dunloy Cuchullains (Antrim) 1-14 St Thomas’ (Galway) 0-13

In the split second Keelan Molloy took a short pass from Nigel Elliott, the last thing that appeared on was a goal. Well, Molloy reckoned otherwise, racing straight ahead with startling conviction before unleashing his unstoppable shot. Goal!

Wow. All the talk about Dunloy Cuchullains beforehand was that they’d need a goal to defy the odds and take out the Galway champions, Molloy’s brilliant move midway through the second half providing exactly that. Not just the decisive score, it gave the Antrim men absolute belief they could now win this.

Molloy finished with 1-2 from play, one of just many stellar displays as Dunloy booked their place in next month’s AIB All-Ireland club hurling final. They came down from the glens as the self-confessed underdogs, in the end the only surprise was they didn’t win out by more.

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All the talk about St Thomas’ beforehand was that they were on a mission to amend for last year’s semi-final, when TJ Reid scored for Ballyhale Shamrocks at the absolute death to stun the Galway champions. And with a fifth successive Galway title under the belt, St Thomas’ looked primed to press on through.

Instead it was Dunloy who played with heartfelt desire and intent throughout, even after missing a penalty in the first half, and finishing with 15 wides in all. Conal Cunning was excellent in the heart of their attack, finishing with 0-7, including three from play, and chase down hard as they did, St Thomas’ couldn’t get back after Molloy’s goal.

Dunloy were sitting two points up, 0-9 to 0-7, in the 45th minute, when Molloy made his move: some 45-metres out, from the Hogan Stand side, his deft flick of the ball ahead of him was what caught the St Thomas’ defence, still his pace and then finish was pure class.

“Aye, I don’t remember much about it,” Molloy beamed afterwards. “I got the ball off Nigel, seen the space in front of me, and once I got through I just went for it and thankfully it went in. I just flicked the ball ahead of me a bit, knew there were two men coming.

“But look, we know ourselves over the last three or four years, the panel that we have, and where we could go. Getting over Slaughtneil (in the Ulster final) was huge for us, they’ve been a big hoodoo for us. This is where we want to be, it doesn’t happen every year, getting back to Croke Park.”

Dunloy have contested All-Ireland finals in Croke Park before, in 1995, 1996, 2003 and 2004; They fell short in all four, and Ballyhale Shamrocks will reduce them to underdogs again for next month’s final, but on this evidence they will relish the challenge.

For Dunloy manager Gregory O’Kane, a 10-time Ulster winner with the club, there were some nervy moments on the sideline, especially in the first half, after they built a promising lead only to let it slip. His coolness, however, was never questioned.

“You’ve a job to do on the line, at times you’re managing chaos, just trying to do the best you can. I always trust my players to do the right thing, and today they did”, he said.

“Croke Park is a special place, and for a club like Dunloy, our ambition is always to be here, and play a game of that magnitude. That’s always been the goal, to get out of Ulster, and represent ourselves in the best stadium in the world. And obviously bring some hurling to that. So a good day for the team, delighted to get over the line.

“I knew coming down here today we’ve got good players, and that forward line has got lightening pace. Somewhere like Croke Park, when we start to get into spaces, start using the ball smart, we were always going to create, and thankfully we took those chances on the day to get us over the line.”

St Thomas’s, the 2013 All-Ireland champions, started without half-forward Darragh Burke through injury, although he did appear late on. Conor Cooney wasn’t his usual accurate self, missing three frees in succession in the first half, and although they got it back to a two-point game in the 53rd minute, Dunloy outscored them four points to two from there.

“We were glad at half-time, still to be level,” added O’Kane, “because we hadn’t done anything wrong, except not take our chances when they were there, and execute. So it was just about resetting at half time, gathering our compose for the second half.

“No doubt about it, our defence was absolutely outstanding today, the way they closed down the attacks, and the match ups were fantastic, everybody put their shoulder to the wheel. The Ulster final was massive for us, just to get over it, we’ve left a couple behind in the past. Once we got the body’s repaired from, it was all about getting ready for this one.”

Dunloy certainly hit the damp ground running, Nigel Elliott pointing from their first run of attack inside opening minute. Things got a little scrappy, a Cooney free put the Galway champions ahead on 11 minutes, although the wide count was adding up for both sides.

On 17 minutes, Cooney clearly pulled down Seann Elliott as he charged on goal; Cunning stepped up for the penalty, struck low and right, only for Gerard Kelly to pull off a brilliant save. Cunning brought Dunloy level again just before the break, through a 65m.

St Thomas’ finished in a frenzy, Eanna Burke and Evan Duggan striking their last two points, but couldn’t breach the Dunloy defence for the goal they needed. By then Keelan Molloy had stolen the show.

Dunloy Cuchullains (Antrim): R Elliott; P Duffin, R McGarry, O Quinn; E Smyth (0-1), Kevin Molloy, A Crawford; C Kinsella, E McFerran; R Molloy, Keelan Molloy (1-2), N Elliott (0-2); D Smith, C Cunning (0-7, three frees, one 65), S Elliott (0-1). Subs: A McGrath (0-1) for D Smith (29 mins), P Shiels for Crawford (33, inj), N McKeague for N Elliott (58), G McTaggart for R Molloy (62).

St Thomas’ (Galway): G Kelly; F Burke, C Mahony, O Quinn; E Duggan (0-1), David Burke, C Burke; C Cooney (0-6, four frees), B Burke; V Manso, O Flannery (0-1), M Caulfield (0-2); B Farrell, E Burke (0-1), D McGlynn (0-2). Subs: C Headd for Farrell (half-time), S Cooney for Manso (42 mins), Darragh Burke for Caulfield (52).

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow)