Portumna power on

Portumna  1-15

Na Piarsaigh  1-11

 PORTUMNA’S proven package of big-day experience and inherent quality propelled the Galway champions to a remarkable fifth All-Ireland Club hurling final in nine years in much more comfortable fashion than many neutrals had anticipated in wretched conditions at Semple Stadium last Saturday evening.

A miserly crowd of 1,820 underlined the madness of the GAA’s decision to schedule this attractive fixture for a floodlit setting in early February, but those perished punters who turned up in Thurles were given a sharp reminder of the talents which had stamped Portumna as a class apart from all challengers when in their prime.

The triple All-Ireland champions may have lacked the swashbuckling flamboyance of a few years ago in dismissing the ultimately disappointing and disjointed efforts of the Limerick title holders, but they executed the basics with an economy which simply had to be admired in really hostile conditions.

Portumna hardly wasted possession all evening, with their team-work, link up play and superior craft proving far too potent a cocktail for a Na Piarsaigh outfit which were always playing catch up after a dreadful start. It didn’t help their cause either that key players such as James O’Brien and Shane Dowling never got to the pitch of the battle.

We had worried that Portumna would struggle to match the hunger and energy of Sean Stack’s troops, but those fears were utterly groundless in the end. The Galway men know what fixtures at this level are all about and though Na Piarsaigh are hardly novices any longer – appearing in their second semi-final in three years – they were made to look like them.

There may have been only four points dividing the teams at the finish, but the scoreboard hardly reflected Portumna’s overall authority as a terrific team performance was peppered with a string of outstanding individual displays. They had done the donkey work in the opening-half when facing the driving rain and wind.

As usual, the team’s old guard used all of their cunning and class to punch big holes in Na Piarsaigh’s challenge, but Saturday evening also saw some of the pressure being relieved from their shoulders as two relative newcomers at opposite ends of the field came of age with significant contributions.

In defence, young Conor O’Hare was in tremendous fettle, rising to the demands of the occasion in great style while his measured clearances typified Portumna’s heads-up hurling. Up front, county minor Ronan O’Meara exploded on the big stage and within 12 minutes had an invaluable goal and two points to his credit.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.