The meeting of Athenry and Portumna in the semi-finals of the senior hurling championship on Sunday is one of the most eagerly awaited games of recent years on the local GAA front. In the past decade and a half Galway has produced three exceptional sides ? Sarsfields, with their back-to-back All-Irelands in 1993 and '94, Athenry, with their All-Ireland wins of 1997, 2000 and 2001 and more recently Portumna, who won their first county title in 2003 and went on to All-Ireland glory after regaining it two years later.

Diarmuid Cloonan of Athenry and Gordon Glynn of Loughrea in action at Kenny Park on Sunday. Photo: Declan Monaghan

In a way it is a regret that these three exceptional sides did not overlap but Sunday's encounter provides a rare glimpse of what it might be like if all three had peaked at the same time. Athenry have rebuilt but still have a strong vein of experience in the likes of Eugene Cloonan, John Feeney, Michael Crimmins, Diarmuid Cloonan, Brian Hanley, Brian Higgins, while the likes of Michael John Quinn, Shane Donohue and Sean Glynn have stepped up to the mark.

Athenry showed in their dismissal of reigning champions Loughrea that they have lost none of the cuteness which made them such a force and in John Hardiman have a man on the sideline who can remain composed and still extract the maximum from his side.

They know they will need to be close to their best if they are to stop a Portumna side at Kenny Park in Athenry (3.45pm) who have that look of driven force which were trademarks of Sarsfields and Athenry before them.

In essence, Portumna hurled for ten minutes of each half to see off Clarinbridge in the quarter-finals. They looked ordinary enough for the other periods but when they were going at full tilt they looked like they would give Kilkenny a run for their money.

Invariably, their attack will be built around Joe Canning but while Athenry might stem him, containing Damian and Niall Hayes and Leo and Andrew Smith, might prove a bridge too far, while at the other end Ollie Canning will be the key figure.

The meeting of Athenry and Portumna may be regarded as the county final itself, but the clash of Castlegar and Kinvara in the curtain-raiser (2pm) should also be a thriller between two evenly matched sides.

Castlegar, Galway's most successful club with 17 county titles in addition to being the first Connacht side in either code to win an All-Ireland title when they were successful in 1980, have not been past the quarter-final stage since losing the 1987 decider to Athenry. Ger Farragher is good for about ten points in every match, while Cathal Connolly will also be expected to find the range with regularity.

Kinvara have never won the County Cup and made their only appearance in a final in 1979 when a goal-scoring attack was blunted in the final when Castlegar hammered them 2-13 to 0-6.

Their defence, with county men Ger Mahon and Shane Kavanagh in the central positions, and Paul O?Sullivan superb in the corner, is the mainstay of their side.

They will need a big return from their attack and possibly a goal or two from Conor Kavanagh if they are to make it to their second ever final appearance.

Cashel goalkeeper Terence Grogan has been superb all year, while so too has county net-minder Colm Callanan so goals might be hard to come by on Sunday. If points are to decide it, then Farragher must be fancied to make the top return and send Cashel through.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment