Portumna look in the mood to stay on top of the tree

Portumna 2-28

Carnmore 2-14

If reigning All-Ireland champions Portumna keep going like this, then come the business end of the championship, the remaining teams could all well be vying for second place.

As in their 1-29 to 1-19 victory over Castlegar, Portumna were awesome, with Joe Canning (1-8), Damien Hayes (1-3), Kevin Hayes (0-5), Ollie Canning (0-3) and Niall Hayes (0-2) the generals leading the charge up front while Ronan O’Meara also chipped in with four points.

They really are an incredible team, from their work-rate to their movement and when in full flow they are simply unstoppable. What added credence to this victory was that Carnmore – for whatever limitations they may have – could not have played any better.

For their part, Seamus Qualter’s men tallied 2-14 against the holders and that was a total that would have claimed the spoils in many of the championship games last weekend. In all, they gave a very honest account of themselves, especially in the first period when they hit Portumna for two goals.

There was an element of good fortune about the first one as Portumna custodian Joe Keane seemed to lose sight of a Kevin Killilea free which ended up in the net on 16 minutes. While Mike Monaghan’s men were beating themselves over that one, Carnmore slipped in for another moments later.

This time Keane was called upon to deny Aidan Reilly but the rebound fell kindly to the advancing Barry Hanley who whipped his effort home to haul Carnmore back into the contest at 2-3 to 1-7. Suddenly, Portumna had something to think about.

Joe Canning and Hanley subsequently traded points and while Ollie Canning, Niall Hayes and Joe Canning (free) put their side four ahead again, a plucky Carnmore were determined to stay the course and three unanswered points from Hanley and Killilea– free and play – had the margin back to one again.

A Joe Canning free in injury-time – following a foul on the excellent Kevin Hayes – left Portumna 1-12 to 2-7 ahead at the break and while no one imagined that an upset was on the cards, the continuing improvement in Carnmore’s game – having contested the relegation final last year – was duly noted.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.