Galway SHC Final/ Loughrea 1-13 Portumna 0-15: At half-time there didn't appear to be sufficiently distant galaxies to accommodate the alternative universe wherein Loughrea might recover to win yesterday's Galway SHC final at Pearse Park. But by the dying seconds of the match John Maher stood over the free that would point the way to Loughrea's first county title since 1941.
After half an hour All-Ireland champions Portumna led by eight, 0-10 to 0-2, and had looked so superior that their lengthy interval break could have been a calculated decision to go home and see if Loughrea could manage to catch up even in their absence.
With little over 10 minutes left the winners had managed to score just 1-4. But astonishingly they outscored the champions by 0-9 to 0-2 in the remaining time, which included over five minutes of injury-time.
Portumna's meltdown was symbolised by the fate that befell some of their biggest names. A year ago when the same clubs met Damien Hayes and Joe Canning scored 3-17 between them; yesterday that was down to 0-8, just one point from play.
Canning will be particularly disappointed by the chance he had from a free three minutes into injury-time to push Portumna ahead, a score that could have sealed off Loughrea's unlikely path to success. But the champions' chief scorer, already a national figure at 18, hit it wide.
Worse was the follow for Portumna. Ollie Canning, as unflappable as ever earlier, suffered three costly and uncharacteristic lapses in the second half.
The last was his second foul on Loughrea replacement and inter-county referee Michael Haverty, who at the age of 44 had the guile to draw the critical frees, both of which John Maher converted.
"It's not easy getting frees off Ollie," said Haverty afterwards. "When you get the ball in your hand and Ollie's around he won't let you go and there's a chance that there might be a free. It mightn't always be legal but there's been plenty of frees given over the years."
The winning point capped a sensational comeback by Loughrea, who went in to the final burdened by injury and suspension and had made changes to all but one of their lines. It was initially fired by scoring 1-2 without reply in the first eight minutes of the second half but as soon as they closed to within a score, the champions took off again to extend the lead back to six points going into the final quarter.
Portumna will long wonder how they lost this match after having apparently won it twice. For the last 10 minutes their challenge atrophied and Loughrea, greatly encouraged, plugged away until the match was on the line by which stage Portumna had lost their bearings.
"It's easy to say now but we really, really did have faith," said a jubilant winning manager Pat O'Connor afterwards, "and we didn't get that faith easy, losing in 2003 and last year but we learned a lot from last year, how to handle a final and how to handle Portumna. If we had let Portumna hurl they'd have taken us apart.
"But they're there a long time and maybe that little edge is gone. They didn't get the scores to close out the game."
The game-plan of stopping Portumna from hurling didn't look to be going that well in the first half, an ugly, foul-ridden affair that lurched from one breakdown to the next with little fluent play. There were frequent scuffles and at the break, a couple of mentors jostled leaving the field. As O'Connor said, Loughrea knew the consequences of letting the game flow and by the end they had cut in half Portumna's total of 3-21 from 12 months ago.
What quality hurling was played came from the champions, who carved out points from play by Davy Canning, Kevin and Damien Hayes as well as the big free count. Their defence looked composed and in control with Ollie Canning out first to every ball and the half-backs working effectively as a unit.
Loughrea's touch looked poor and their play uninspired. Although O'Connor made switches for the second half the key moment was the goal in the 36th minute. Johnny O'Loughlin played a high ball in on the Portumna square where Enda Coen got the final touch for the score that revived the contest.
O'Loughlin added a great point from the right-hand sideline seconds later. Coen hit a point in the 57th minute from a similar position and under pressure. By then the match was building to a sizzling climax. Portumna can feel aggrieved a couple of clear tugs on Joe Canning's jersey went unpunished late on but the champions' downfall was largely of their own making.
There were seasonal fireworks in injury-time with Portumna twice equalising straight after falling behind. Referee Michael Conway couldn't have been accused of playing for the draw as he added 90 seconds to the announced four minutes' injury-time, at the end of which the fateful free was awarded.
LOUGHREA: N Murray; T Regan, D McClearn, D Melia; B Mahony (0-1), G Kennedy, J Dooley; G Keary, R Regan; V Maher, J Maher (0-7, all frees), B Dooley; E Coen (1-1), J O'Loughlin (0-3, one free), K Colleran (0-1). Subs: M Haverty for B Dooley (47 mins), K Daniels for Coen (64 mins).
PORTUMNA: I Canning; M Gill, E McEntee, O Canning; G Heagney, M Ryan, A O'Donnell; L Smith, E Lynch; D Canning (0-1), N Hayes (0-1), A Smith (0-1, a free); D Hayes (capt; 0-1), K Hayes (0-3), J Canning (0-7, six frees, one 65). Subs: Matt Ryan (0-1) for D Canning (54 mins).
Referee: M Conway (Craughwell).
