Gort must get up close and personal against Ballyhale

Inside Track with John McIntyre

In three previous attempts, the All-Ireland Club hurling championship hasn’t been a lucky hunting ground for Gort – their most recent campaign ending in an unexpected semi-final loss to Coolderry of Offaly at the Limerick Gaelic Grounds in February of 2012. That defeat stung the South Galway men but now they have the chance to make amends.

Ironically, the closest Gort came to winning the Tommy Moore Cup was when they fell (1-10 to 0-7) to Saturday’s opponents Ballyhale Shamrocks of Kilkenny in the 1983/’84 final replay and though the Galway champions will head to Thurles with no shortage of motivation, the fact that they can be freely backed at 7/2 to carry the day reflects the extent of the challenge facing them.

To be honest, anyone who was in Kenny Park in late April of last year watching them stumble over Liam Mellows in a first round championship tie after falling well behind, couldn’t have imagined that Gort would end up in an All-Ireland semi-final the following February – to put it mildly, they have turned themselves inside out in the interim.

Mind you, Gort didn’t have to be any great shakes to overcome the respective challenges of Ardrahan and Beagh in the knock-out stages of the title race, but they certainly hit the ground running when overcoming reigning All-Ireland champions Portumna, who admittedly had to endure over two months of inactivity, in a belated Galway final in mid-December.

The challengers had wind advantage in the first-half and though the heavy surface militated against much open hurling, Gort were in a good position at the break when leading by 0-9 to 0-5. For much of the remaining action, they were just doing enough to stay in front until Kevin Hayes brilliantly first-timed to the net to draw the teams’ level in the 57th minute.

Portumna, however, had barely stopped celebrating when Gort immediately delivered a fatal blow thanks to Wayne Walsh’s goal not long after being introduced to the action. They hadn’t wilted when the title holders struck for a timely equaliser and, for good measure, added a second green flag from Albert Mullins before the end.

We all know that Portumna are no longer the electrifying force which ruthlessly dismantled opponents in their hey-day, but Gort’s triumph still represented a notable achievement with the likes of half backs Aidan Harte and Greg Lally, along with the back-in-form Richie Cummins, making big contributions to the club’s seventh county title. There were influential displays too from the likes of Paul Killilea, the Linnanes’, Michael Cummins, Mark McMahon and Jason Grealish, who understandably tired after a long injury lay off.

Gort teams have never lacked resolution or grit over the years, but if they are to have any hope of derailing the Shamrocks, those qualities will have to be evident in abundance in Semple Stadium on Saturday. Their backs will have to get up close and personal with the vaunted Ballyhale attack, while their ability to close down the Kilkenny men further out the field will be critical to the outcome as well.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune