Saint Thomas' Gaelic Athletic Club is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

club located in the Kilchreest and Peterswell areas of

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ireland. The club is exclusively concerned with the game of

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

. St.Thomas' are the current All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling champions having defeated O'Loughlin Gaels of Kilkenny in the final in January 2024. This was their 2nd championship victory having first won the All-Ireland championship in 2013. They won their first ever Galway senior hurling championship in 2012. In February 2013 they advanced to the final of the

All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Club Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-coun ...

after a 0–15 to 0–7 win against

Loughgiel Shamrocks Loughgiel Shamrocks GAC is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the village of Loughgiel/ Loughguile in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They are currently the only club in Ulster to have won an All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Champions ...

. They beat

Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...

side Kilcormac/Killoughey to win the All Ireland on

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

2013 in

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

. The club won the Galway senior hurling championship again in 2016 beating Gort in the final, and again in 2018 against Liam Mellows. They won it again in 2023, beating

Turloughmore Turloughmore ( ; ) is a village in County Galway, Ireland. The name means "the large lake," a notable feature of the area, together with the Clare River (''Abhainn an Chláir''). Turloughmore lies on the N63 national secondary road. It is a sm ...

in the final.

History

The club was formed in 1968 when Peterswell and Kilchreest amalgamated. Peterswell had enjoyed early success in the late 1800s and early 1900 with them winning the

Galway Senior Hurling Championship The Galway Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Brooks Galway Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Galway County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the ...

title in 1889, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1904, 1905 and 1907. They were a major force in

Galway GAA The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Galway GAA are one of the 32 county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and for the Galway county teams. Galway is one of the few ...

throughout this period. The club name derives from

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle (; , meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus ( 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of ...

, to whom the

Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Peterswell is dedicated. Both adjoining parishes were associated with hurling since its foundation but due to emigration and lack of numbers the parishes decided to amalgamate. The first year in competitive hurling was a successful one. The under-14 team brought the club its first success by winning the county title. The team would follow this up by winning the county under-16 title in 1970. Construction began on their current clubhouse which is located on the main Gort to Loughrea Road in 1976. That along with a brand new pitch were finally officially opened in 1983 by

Paddy Buggy Paddy Buggy (15 March 1929 – 15 May 2013) was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Slieverue and was a member of the Kilkenny senior inter-county team from 1949 until 1960. Buggy later served as the 27th president of th ...

, President of the GAA. In 1978 another milestone was reached when the club was promoted to senior ranks after reaching the county intermediate final, however they were defeated by close neighbours Kilbeacanty. Following the promotion to senior ranks the club endured a chequered existence in senior hurling. Having been relegated on a number of occasions they secured promotion with Intermediate Championship victories in 1996 and 2004. They were crowned Galway Senior Champions for the first time in 2012 by defeating

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ), is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains and Lough Rea, the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the urban sk ...

in the final on a scoreline of 3–11 to 2–11 in Pearse Stadium. They followed this up by taking the

by defeating Kilcormac-Killoughy on St Patrick's Day. In 2016, the secured a second

by beating Gort in the final on a scoreline of 1–11 0–10.

2013 All Ireland victory

Path to county final

In the quarter-finals St Thomas' were 2–20 to 0–10 winners over Galway club Castlegar. Centre-forward

Conor Cooney Conor Cooney (born 22 October 1992) is an Irish hurler who plays for Galway Senior Championship club St Thomas' and at inter-county level with the Galway senior hurling team. He usually lines out as a full-forward. Playing career Gort Comm ...

lead the way scoring 1–6 (6fs). In the semi-final St Thomas' met county champions

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

. St Thomas' led at half time however Gort rallied, scoring two late points to secure a replay. Gort's Aidan Harte scored the equalising point from a 65 in the third minute of additional time. They overcame Gort in the replay in Kenny Park Athenry. St Thomas' won their first

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

county title in November 2012 defeating

in the final.

Semi-final

They faced Antrim side and Ulster Champions

in the All Ireland semi-final in

Parnell Park Parnell Park is a GAA stadium in Donnycarney, Dublin, Ireland with a capacity of 7,300. It is the home of the Dublin GAA hurling, football, camogie and ladies' football teams at all levels of competition. The ground is used mainly by the co ...

. St. Thomas' were leading by four points in injury time. However, Liam Watson tipped over a twenty-metre free and scored a goal from a free in the last puck of the dramatic game to secure a draw for Loughgiel. St Thomas' were victorious in the replay played in Clones, winning on a scoreline of 0–15 to 0–7.

All-Ireland final

St Thomas' won their first All-Ireland Club Championship title on 17 March 2013 after defeating Kilcormac-Killoughey of

on a scoreline of 1–11 to 1–09.

2024 All Ireland victory

Semi-final

On 16 December 2023, the club reached a second

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

after defeating

Ballygunner Ballygunner (), is a civil parish in County Waterford, Ireland. It lies on the southern outskirts of Waterford city. The placename is derived, in part, from the Old Norse masculine personal name ''Gunnarr''. Ballygunner contains several townl ...

on penalties in the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

All-Ireland final

On 21 January 2024, St Thomas' won the

by 0-18 to 0-17 against O'Loughlin Gaels in

to win their second All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship title.

Éanna Burke Éanna Burke (born 21 October 1995) is an Irish hurling, hurler who plays as a midfielder for the Galway GAA, Galway senior team. Career Burke made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was selected for the Galway mi ...

scored the winning point for St. Thomas' in added time with an over the shoulder point from out on the left near the touchline at the hill 16 end. James Regan had been sent-off for St. Thomas' two minutes into the second half for a shoulder charge. O'Loughlin Gaels appeared to have scored a goal in the first half when a low shot from Owen Wall looked to have gone over the goal-line before being cleared by Fintan Burke.

Hurling titles

(2):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

(8): 2012,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* Galway Intermediate Hurling Championship (1): 2004 * Galway Junior Hurling Championship (1): 1972 * Galway Under-21 Hurling Championship (3): 1980, 1995, 2013 * Galway Minor Hurling Championship (1): 2008

Notable hurlers

Anthony Cunningham Anthony Cunningham (born 16 June 1965) is a former hurler who has since managed various Gaelic football and hurling teams. He was manager of the Galway county hurling team between 2011 and 2015 and of the Roscommon county football team betwee ...

* David Burke *

Kenneth Burke Kenneth Duva Burke (May 5, 1897 – November 19, 1993) was an American literary theorist, as well as poet, essayist, and novelist, who wrote on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary theorist, Burke ...

* James Regan * Richie Murray *

References

External links

St Thomas' GAA site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas' Gaa Gaelic games clubs in County Galway Hurling clubs in County Galway