Seasoned Portumna can fend off Gort in long-delayed decider
IT may not be a Tale of Two Cities but the clash of All-Ireland champions Portumna and 2011 county final winners Gort does pit two towns and clubs against each other that, having spent their fair share of time in the wilderness of senior hurling, have sought to re-write the record books in recent years.
It’s incredible to think, particularly given all they have achieved over the last decade or so, that prior to their county final victory in 2003, Portumna had never won a senior championship and, indeed, had only one intermediate (1992) and two junior ‘A’ crowns (1914 & 1982) to prop up their roll of honour.
However, with six county and four All-Ireland club titles stashed safely under their belt over the last 12 years, Portumna certainly have made up on lost ground. Unbeaten since their group defeat to Clarinbridge last Summer, they are strong favourites to collect the county silverware again this Sunday.
As for Gort, they also have six county titles to their name. They won their first three in 1914, 1916 and 1934 but, amazingly, they would not lift the Cup again for another 47 years until the class of 1981 accounted for Kiltormer after a replay. They followed this up with a fifth title triumph in 1983.
However, it would be another 25 years until Gort would make a county senior final appearance in 2008, when they were defeated by Portumna 1-18 to 2-7, and another three years before they hoisted the Tom Callanan Cup with success over Clarinbridge in 2011.
Obviously, victory for Portumna or Gort will take their respective senior title haul to seven – same as the great Peterswell club of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – and leave the winner just one county triumph behind Athenry, Turloughmore and Liam Mellows, all on eight. Castlegar (17) and Ardrahan (11) head up the honours list.
While Portumna and Gort have been prominent contenders since the turn of the millennium, the two have only met four times in the championship in the last 10 years, with Portumna winning all four meetings. In 2004, Portumna recorded a 4-18 to 1-10 win in the group stages before defeating Gort 0-18 to 1-12 in the 2005 semi-final.
Three years later, both clubs clashed in the county showpiece – Portumna outscoring Gort by 1-8 to 0-3 in the second half of that decider to win on a 1-18 to 2-7 scoreline. The following season, the All-Ireland champions backed this up with a 4-14 to 6-5 win in a surreal county semi-final on route to winning the title.
In many respects, it is hard to believe both have avoided each other in the championship over the past five years. Each have won a county title – Gort (2011) and Portumna (2013) – but, by the same token, they have often fell short on a number of other occasions.
Gort failed to make the knockout stages in 2010 and 2013 while Portumna lost a semi-final replay to Loughrea in 2010 and two subsequent quarter-finals to St. Thomas’ and Turloughmore in 2011 and 2012.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.