Inside Track
Portumna not the force of old but can still carry day
Inside Track with John McIntyre
The big question ahead of the long-delayed Galway senior hurling final is how much have Portumna left in the tank? Nearly half of their team were involved when the club made that historic championship breakthrough in 2003 and two of them, Ollie Canning and Niall Hayes, have been loyal servants for close on 20 years.
With six county championships and four All-Ireland Club titles amassed in a decade, Portumna have been a dominant force far beyond their county’s borders, although there was a valley period for three seasons after completing a notable three-in-a-row in 2009 when breaking Loughrea’s hearts once again at Pearse Stadium.
A lazy presumption followed that Portumna were gone, but their campaigns in 2010, ’11 and ’12 had been hampered by injuries and suspensions. Against that background, it meant a lot to their camp to regain the Tom Callanan Cup in 2013 and having returned to the top in Galway, the border men used all of their experience to subsequently readily dismiss championship novices, Na Piarsaigh and Mount Leinster Rangers, on their way to another All-Ireland triumph.
Portumna really hit the ground running in their opening defence of the county title in late April with a first-half blitz of Castlegar at Kenny Park, but they haven’t been nearly as formidable since, scraping over Loughrea in the quarter final thanks to two softly conceded goals before having to work hard to fend off a progressive Craughwell outfit without their star player Niall Healy at the penultimate stage of the title race.
That form is some way behind the devastating displays Portumna produced in their heyday, but how could it be any other way? Most of the team won’t see their twenties again; their legs have slowed; and apart from Conor O’Hare and Ronan O’Meara, you couldn’t say any of their younger talent are in anyway exceptional.
But Portumna still know how to win. Gareth Heagney, Eoin Lynch, Kevin Hayes, Niall Hayes, Ollie Canning, Leo Smith, Damien Hayes, Joe Canning and Andy Smith remain terrific competitors, while Martin Dolphin is another big asset at centre back, but they surely appreciate that little will come easy against a Gort outfit who have lived up to the club’s tradition for producing steely, hard-to-beat and uncompromising teams.
Of course, we haven’t seen Portumna for nearly three months in what has become a fiasco of a county championship, but if there is one team which can overcome such a significant handicap and literally bolt from the traps, it is the title holders. You can rest assured they will be primed for Sunday and they will be anxious to go for a quick kill as the longer Gort stay in a game, they more awkward they become.
Champions in 2011, but well beaten by Portumna when they clashed in the 2008 county final, Gort’s progress to Sunday’s decider has been typified by a steady improvement and the return to form of star under-age player Richie Cummins. He is one of a number of survivors from their previous big collision with the champions as Tadhg Linnane, Niall Forde, Paul Killilea, Gerry Quinn, still popping over the frees with great consistency, Sean Forde, Sylvie Og Linnane, Greg Lally and Aidan Harte also have a score to settle with Portumna from six years ago.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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