All-Ireland club hurling championship semi-finals/Portumna 2-13 Loughmore 2-8:IN ONE way it took Portumna all of 10 minutes to crack Loughmore-Castleiney. That's the way it is when you have class and experience and Joe Canning on your side.

In another way it took them all of 60 minutes to beat them. After being 10 points up with five minutes remaining, Portumna had to endure a strange climax where Loughmore-Castleiney hit them with two late goals and a bit of a fright in front of a crowd of just under 6,000.

So up stepped Canning - the 19-year-old hurling prodigy whose injury scare in the build-up to the game proved a little exaggerated - to hit a couple more security points, bringing his tally for the afternoon to 1-9. It's hardly overstating things to say his presence on the day was once again pivotal.

Canning's hamstring injury, if it was still at him, was well disguised, and the "will-he, won't-he" play that marked the countdown to this game was something of a decoy.

"Last Monday, actually, he got a second opinion up in Dublin, that he was 100 per cent to go," admitted Portumna manager Jimmy Heverin. "You can see for yourself he's a very special hurler, and a great addition to whatever team he plays for."

Naturally, it wasn't simply a one-man show, and Portumna had other big play-makers throughout the field in men like Damien Hayes and his brother Niall, and the older and equally capable Canning brother, Ollie. It means the Galway champions progress to their second AIB All-Ireland club final in three years - having won it in 2006 - where they'll meet near-neighbours Birr, a mere 22 miles away just over the Offaly border.

Loughmore-Castleiney started the better and hit 0-3 in the opening six minutes, two of which came from their own underage star Noel McGrath, still a tender 17. Portumna hit four wides before their first score, but when that came - a typically thunderous goal from Canning - the game was suddenly hit with an air of inevitability.

It was as if Portumna suddenly decided to take their opponents on man-for-man, and it worked. Canning took a long pass from the highly effective Kevin Hayes, and charged around Derek Burke before riffling to the net. Paul Ormond moved on to him shortly afterwards, but that too ended in vain when Ormond was dismissed for a second yellow card with 15 minutes to go.

Those yellow cards were flashing like fireworks throughout (13 in all), although it was far from a rough game. That did take some edge off it, and it was only in those frenetic last five minutes that the crowd really got full value for money.

Portumna gradually built on their goal through Canning and Kevin Hayes, and their work-rate on and off the ball soon had Loughmore-Castleiney looking very ordinary. David Kennedy and Ciarán McGrath were throwing their hearts into it, and yet they went almost 20 minutes before responding again, with another point from Noel McGrath. That left them 1-5 to 0-4 in arrears going into the break, and surely aware they'd a small mountain to climb.

That became a big mountain shortly into the second half, when Canning tipped over two soft frees, and although he then saw his 20-metre free bravely stopped on the goalline by Alvy Stapleton, he promptly added another big point from play.

Then, 43 minutes in, the Hayes brothers combined for what seemed the defining score - with Damien ending a sweet combination of passes for Niall, who's lightning finish was unstoppable. Five minutes later they were up 2-11 to 0-7, surely a winning margin by any standards.

Loughmore-Castleiney never surrendered, however, and with Micheál Webster finally seeing some good possession, was set up by McGrath for goal number one, with five minutes to go. Two minutes later they'd a second, this time McGrath producing a brilliant fetch and a sublime finish. When Evan Sweeney added a 65-metre free shortly after, the margin was down to three points - before Canning promptly ended it on the more comfortable and deserving margin of five.

"Sure, and the old heads there like Ollie Canning coming out with vital balls at the end there, and Eugene McEntee, Michael Ryan," added Heverin. "There is no substitute for that kind of thing, and I suppose we just had that bit of experience on Loughmore."

Loughmore manager Eamon Sweeney said: "Well, our lads really dug in, got those couple of goals at the end. I suppose they just didn't really do enough to win. Being honest, Portumna were the better team. But we're proud of our lads. We're disappointed tonight, but when we look back on the year we'll be very proud of what we achieved, and hopefully we represented our club, Tipperary, and Munster as best we could. It was an honest effort."

PORTUMNA: I Canning; M Gill, E McEntee, O Canning (capt); G Heagney, M Ryan, P Smith; L Smith, E Lynch; A Smith, K Hayes (0-2), N Hayes (1-0); J Canning (1-9, six frees), D Hayes (0-1), D Canning (0-1). Sub: A O'Donnell for Gill (61 mins).

LOUGHMORE-CASTLEINEY: J Gleeson (capt); A Stapleton, D Bourke, P Ormond; E Ryan, D Kennedy, T King; C McGrath, G Sweeney; E Connolly (0-1), D McGrath, N McGrath (1-4, two frees, one 65), P Brennan, M Webster (1-0), E Sweeney (0-3, one free, one 65). Sub: D Brennan for P Brennan (51 mins).

Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Laois).