The news Kilcormac’s Dan Currams would miss the club final has, apart from the heart-breaking disappointment for the player, disturbed the equilibrium of this eagerly awaited match and focused attention on the Galway side’s advantages.
As Offaly manager Ollie Baker put it: “You couldn’t quantify the shock around here that afternoon”, as word spread last Sunday that Currams had sustained a suspected broken arm in a challenge match.
Having scored 1-1 and 1-2 in the club’s unexpected victories in both the All-Ireland semi-final and Leinster final, the full forward is an unmitigated loss despite all the spirited talk of how the adversity will drive the team even harder.
Missed him
You could say they missed him with a head injury for a large portion of the Leinster final and yet there's no doubting the improvement when, patched up, he returned to action.
Evidence indicates the Offaly champions will knuckle down and play through the disadvantage but their task has been infinitely complicated.
The match is a classic club final and thought to be unique in bringing together two first-time county champions on St Patrick’s Day.
Yet for all the small-club quirkiness of St Thomas’s and their six Burke brothers, plus the fact that nine of them started an under-12 final together in 2002, the Galway champions have a big-time pedigree.
Four players have appeared in a senior inter-county All-Ireland final – and others at underage, one is a current All Star, and they are the latest standard bearers from the club championship’s most successful county.
They have a coach in Dinny Cahill whose experience and knowledge is invaluable. As a former Antrim manager he had a firm grasp of the challenge posed by semi-final opponents and defending champions Loughgiel.
Going into this weekend he can draw on the lessons of managing the St Rynagh’s team who lost to Kilcormac in the Offaly final.
Ferocious work ethic
On the field, they're mobile, with great pace, a ferocious work ethic and an ability to hit points from all angles.
David Burke brings quality to centrefield, Conor Cooney is liberated by having a more off-the-cuff role in the half forwards than he had for the county team last season – although his contribution included two goals against Offaly in the provincial semi-final – and Bernard Burke was considered the most influential player the last day.
Vulnerabilities identified by Loughgiel were an openness to goals – PJ O’Mullan pointed out his team had three goal chances they didn’t take in the semi-final replay and a tendency to give up frees.
Unfortunately for Kilcormac Currams won’t be around to exploit the former but the prolific Ciarán Slevin will punish them on frees so discipline will need to be good.
Kilcormac have improved with each match since coming out of the county but so have St Thomas’s and the Galway club deserve to be favourites.
