Hurling All-Ireland Club semi-finals/Portumna 2-17 James Stephens 0-11: After the baleful events on the field last week, yesterday saw the club championship put a spring in the season's step with this pulsating encounter in Thurles. The semi-final ended in the dethroning of All-Ireland champions James Stephens by a Portumna side the sweep and pace of whose display lit up the afternoon.
Ollie Canning gave a luminous display at corner back, and whereas the glittering strike force of Damien Hayes and Joe Canning came up with 2-11 of the team's total, there was also great back-up from the other forwards. Andy Smith, for example, hit four points from play and Kevin Hayes did a top job on the 40 breaking and moving ball.
This was an integrated effort rather than a celebrity success.
The scoreline doesn't flatter the winners, but the defending champions kept plugging away after a disappointing afternoon in which they malfunctioned as a unit and couldn't keep up with the dash of their opponents.
In fairness to the Kilkenny champions, they had pushed their campaign a lot farther than most of their predecessors, but in the end there was a weariness to their efforts that signalled the end of the line. Only Donnacha Cody and Brian McEvoy had reason to be personally satisfied with their performances, and that's not enough at the business end of any championship.
James Stephens also had to cope with the dismissal of two players in the closing stages. Philip Larkin and Shane Egan received two yellow cards, the latter in bizarre circumstances as his first was picked up before he even took the field after an altercation with one of the Portumna sideline team.
Portumna didn't take full advantage of this in that they kept their extra men at the back and contented themselves with stone-walling James Stephens's attempts at putting a little respectability on the margin of defeat, before rattling over a closing salvo of three points in the last couple of minutes.
Portumna opened with some fast and furious hurling.
The switch of Ollie Canning to defence paid a huge dividend with the All Star delivering a man of the match performance. His uncanny reading of games is familiar from the inter-county scene and yesterday he was everywhere, slipping out to pick off penetrative clearances and tackling with the force and precision of a smart bomb - his block on Matthew Ruth in the 44th minute a prime example.
Of equal significance was the impact on the rest of what has been an occasionally troubled defence. As a unit they played with tenacity and cleared ball intelligently.
The winners started well with some dazzling inter-play: accurate long ball, delicate taps and speedy raids. The problem was that they weren't getting on the scoreboard as much as this flash approach play should have done.
James Stephens by contrast were more economical, apparently moving well within themselves and picking off scores, in the case of Brian McEvoy's first-half brace immediately after conceding. It was reasonable to wonder what would happen if Portumna had to spend some time on the back foot.
It never really came to that. The Galway side were making the running at 0-6 to 0-4 in the 22nd minute when Eoin Lynch pumped a good ball out to the right for David Canning, who in rugby parlance ran a great line in on goal drawing the defender and setting up Damien Hayes for a gunpowder finish.
Leading 1-9 to 0-6 at half-time, Portumna had to be careful not to concede momentum. A cautious opening 10 minutes left the interval balance unchanged before the knockout blow was delivered.
Joe Canning perhaps had a quieter day than normal. Perhaps because he's young enough to be just short of playing minor for another two years and because he scored 1-7, 1-1 from play. Cody played well on him initially and Canning moved to full forward where his dead-ball striking was accurate and his work rate good.
But in the 42nd minute he got his chance. His brother Ollie's bravura sequence of gutsy ball-winning, elusive running and accurate clearance started the move with Aidan O'Donnell, Damien Hayes and Niall Hayes carving the opening. Joe Canning got loose on the inside and took the baton for the final leg, hammering a goal past Francis Cantwell for a nine-point lead, 2-11 to 0-8.
PORTUMNA: I Canning; M Gill, E McEntee, O Canning; G Heagney, M Ryan, A O'Donnell; L Smith, E Lynch; D Canning (0-1), K Hayes, A Smith (0-4); D Hayes (1-4), N Hayes (0-1), J Canning (1-7, five points frees and one sideline). Subs: P Smith for K Hayes (56 mins), E Lynch for N Hayes (59 mins), P Treacy for L Smith (59 mins), T Quinn for O'Donnell (60 mins).
JAMES STEPHENS: F Cantwell; D Cody, M Phelan, D Grogan; J Tyrrell, P Larkin, P Barry; P O'Brien, B McEvoy (0-3, one free); J Murphy, E Larkin (0-4, three frees), G Whelan; E McCormack (0-2), R Hayes, D McCormack (0-2). Subs: M Ruth for Murphy (36 mins), S Egan for Whelan (49 mins).
Referee: S Roche (Tipperary).
