Portumna power through

Date Published: 24-Feb-2009

REIGNING All-Ireland club champions Portumna have marched into their third All-Ireland club decider in four years at the expense of Kilkenny kingpins Ballyhale Shamrocks, while Corofin’s aspirations of glory were left in tatters by a late Kilmacud Crokes blitz in their semifinal showdown.

Those were the contrasting fortunes of Galway’s senior representatives last weekend.

To say victorious Portumna were supreme in their 5-11 to 1- 16 All-Ireland senior club hurling semi-final win over Ballyhale Shamrocks in Thurles on Sunday would be an understatement.

Portumna’s was a complete team performance littered with individual displays of sheer brilliance. From the off, they met their fancied opponents with fire and brimstone and lay waste to Ballyhale’s land of favouritism and opportunity.

The Galway champions’ intensity was irrepressible, while their willingness to work for the team and for one another often pushed beyond the barriers of human limits. This was Herculean. This was
Portumna.

The tone was…

For full match reports on Portumna’s and Corofin’s semi-finals see this week’s Connacht Tribune – Out on Thursday