Portumna power to freeze out Birr

Date Published: 13-Mar-2008

ULTIMATELY, it’s all down to the attitude of the Galway champions. If Portumna hurl with the intensity and verve they are well capable of, then even the most successful team in the history of the All-Ireland club championship should not be able to stop them at Croke Park on Monday (2 p.m.).

That’s not to denigrate Birr’s chances, as the bookies have already done by rating the Offaly and Leinster champions as 3/1 outsiders, but Portumna have the class, firepower, and all-round strength to grasp their second title.

Apart from the aberration which was the 2006 county final, when they squandered an eight point interval lead amid such controversy, they have won every one of their 25 championship games over the past three years.

In Joe Canning, they have the most promising young forward in the country, a teenager whose placed ball accuracy — apart from his general play — would make him an automatic starter on virtually any county team in the land.

Again this week, the Offaly men were singling young Canning out for special attention. A measure of the esteem the towering forward is held in even though he has yet to play a senior game for his county.

Portumna have a bundle of energy in Damien Hayes, too, a regular on Galway teams for half a decade. Their ‘star power’ is invaluable to the likes of Andrew Smith, Niall Hayes, and the resurgent Kevin Hayes, men who know where the goal-posts are located. Further back, there is an admirable solidity about the the midfield partnership of Eoin Lynch — thankfully recovered from injury — and Leo Smith.

They have a wealth of experience on a full-back line featuring Mike Gill, Eugene McEntee, and former Galway star Ollie Canning; while Gareth Heagney and Micheal Ryan have made the number five and six shirts their own.

The only doubt………..

For our special reports on Portumna’s preparations see the print or digital editions of this week’s Connacht & City Tribunes