Portumna hurlers primed for big battle
FAMILIAR ground it may be for many of the Portumna players but according to manager Frank Canning, a lot has changed on the hurling landscape since the three-time All-Ireland senior club champions last graced the All-Ireland series in 2010.
That campaign four years ago concluded with a 1-19 to 0-17 All-Ireland defeat to Ballyhale Shamrocks in the All-Ireland decider – a defeat that ended Portumna’s bid for a historic three-in-a-row; a victory that secured Ballyhale top spot on the roll of honour with five national club titles.
No doubt, Portumna may have struggled to reach the heady heights of yesteryear over the past four seasons – that was, of course, until last Autumn’s county final win over old rivals Loughrea booked their passage into another All-Ireland semi-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles on Saturday (5pm).
“We are hoping our experience will stand to us but, in saying that, they (Na Piarsaigh of Limerick) have won two Munster championships and they have lost an All-Ireland semi-final since we were in one,” says the Portumna manager.
“So, the last few years they have more experience than us. While our experience is from the past, they have more current experience. They are the new kids on the block. They are very big, physical men and their age profile is a good bit younger than ours. Basically, we have to try to counteract that.”
In order to keep the players fresh, Canning says they tailored their training to suit the older brigade. “We haven’t gone mad. We have been doing three nights a week and we are hoping that will pay off for us. We also specifically only played two [challenge] matches because of our age profile.
“So, we are hoping that will work to our advantage and if it doesn’t we will probably be told it was wrong. However, we tailored training towards the older lads because we didn’t want to dog them. We have done that though all year. We are looking for quality not quantity at this time of their careers.”
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