Thomastown shock O'Loughlin Gaels in Kilkenny decider

Thomastown 0-18 O'Loughlin Gaels 0-07

Thomastown produced a big upset as they defeated defending Kilkenny hurling champions O'Loughlin Gaels in a largely one sided senior county final at Nowlan Park on Sunday.

It's only a second ever senior championship crown for Thomastown and even more incredibly it’s a championship success just 12 months after winning an Intermediate title so the rise has been a quick one.

The final that was played in front of 9,465 spectators was played in wet and miserable conditions but with John Donnelly leading the way with four points, Thomastown dealt with it the better as they ran out surprisingly easy winners in the windup.

For O’Loughlin Gaels, it’s the end of a long road after reaching last January’s All-Ireland final against St Thomas of Galway.

In truth they never looked themselves with new Kerry recruit Fionan Mackessy who had scored 2-11 in the previous two games held scoreless with the Thomastown defence bringing a huge aggression to the contest.

All of John Donnelly’s points arrived in the opening period as helped his side build up an 0-09 to 0-04 advantage that they never looked like losing and even when he wasn’t scoring he was still influential in setting up teammates for crucial points.

As well as Donnelly, Jonjo Farrell, Peter McDonald and Rory Connellan all got in on the first half act with Mark Bergin, Conor Heary and Owen Wall just about keeping O’Loughlin Gaels in touch after being second best for much of the opening exchanges.

The Thomastown domination was even more pronounced after the break with Donnelly continuing to pull the strings while Colm Treacy and Rory Connnellan were also denied by efforts at goal.

Jamie Ryan, Owen Wall and Mark Bergin added to the O’Loughlins tally but