Defiant Pearses push Portumna all the way

Date Published: 24-May-2011

Portumna 4-13

Padraig Pearses 1-13

Darren Kelly

in Ballinasloe

NINE points was the difference on Friday evening and Portumna emerged victorious in the Cooper’s Senior Hurling Championship but that was the only expected occurrence in this tie as Padraig Pearses carried the fight to the former champions and nearly delivered a stunning result.

With the scoreline poised at 2-12 to 1-12 entering the final two minutes, Portumna had to produce match winning goals from Andy Smith and Joe Canning, but this encounter was much tighter than they would have liked at Duggan Park.

The tone was set in the third minute when Cormac Ward split the posts to give Pearses the opening score in a game for which they were considered no hopers – Portumna were 1/100 favourites and many perceived that Pearses main target would be to keep the score down.

By the fifth minute, that opinion hadn’t changed as after levelling with a Niall Hayes point, Portumna struck for their first goal. Fergal Flannery’s puck out was aimed down the right channel but met an interception from Eoin Lynch. He kept the ball in play, sending back down the left flank towards a waiting Smith. Quickly, Smith turned and ran 40 yards at the Padraig Pearses defence to little resistance before he placed the ball past Flannery for a 1-1 to 0-1 lead.

It looked like Portumna would pull clear but Padraig Pearses responded within three minutes as a Cyril Donnellan hat-trick from play levelled the teams at 0-4 to 1-1. While the Ballymacward outfit were putting in much work, Portumna were taking their scores easier and had another 1-2 by the quarter hour.

First, Damien Hayes put them back in front before winning a free in the 14th minute. Canning made his presence felt from the resulting 20 metre free, hitting the roof of the net before adding another placed ball to put Portumna 2-3 to 0-4 ahead.

Normally teams wilt at this stage but Padraig Pearses’ great powers of resilience got them back to within two points by the 21st minute. Donnellan’s super first half display added two more points to bring his personal tally to five from play by the 19th minute before Tomas Flannery scored from a placed ball.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.