Stakes are high in second round shoot out

Dara Bradley

IT’S only early May but five clubs will exit the race for the 2012 Galway senior hurling championship this weekend and will instead enter a battle for survival from the drop to intermediate.

The stakes are high for the ten first round losers who have one last chance to get their campaigns back on track. The winners advance to the group stages; the losers enter a ‘round robin’ relegation, where one team goes down to intermediate.

Surprisingly, three of the five teams that have won the Tom Callanan Cup in the past decade – Clarinbridge, Portumna and Athenry – and St Thomas’ and Mullagh, who harbour outside title ambitions, are all in the mix this weekend.

Saturday

Portumna v Ardrahan (Athenry, 5pm)It’s a reflection of the esteem Portumna is still held in that despite losing their opening round clash 1-14 to 1-12, after being rattled by Sarsfields, their odds on winning the county title barely shifted and they remain red-hot 13/8 favourites to sweep all before them from now on.

The Sarsfields’s defeat was the shock of the first round. Whether it was complacency on their part; whether there was an element of them being denied the freedom to hurl by a tigerish Bullaun/New Inn outfit; or whether Portumna are genuinely in decline, time will tell, but one thing is for sure, the new management team – and the squad itself – is under enormous pressure to perform on Saturday.

They cannot countenance being thrown into a relegation round robin. Andy Smith, who picked up a red card the last day, is ruled out, and may miss two months depending on how successful the club’s appeal against that ban is. According to manager Shane O’Rourke, Kevin ‘chunky’ Hayes is a doubt (hamstring) although Martin Dolphin (cruciate) has recovered and is available.

Ardrahan are expecting an almighty backlash from Portumna. They were in the relegation dogfight last year, and so know how difficult it is, and know the importance of trying to avoid it. According to manager Dermot Fahy, David Greene (ankle) remains out, and there are hamstring concerns over Cormac and Padraig Diviney and Niall Greene.

Ardrahan lost 0-16 to 0-13 against Kinvara in the first round, having played well for the middle 40 minutes but poorly in the first and last ten minute spells. Even a full hour hurling at their very best might not be enough to topple the wounded kingpins. Verdict: Portumna

Liam Mellows v St Thomas’ (Athenry, 6.45pm)St Thomas’ will feel unlucky to be in this situation; Liam Mellows can have no quibbles about where they find themselves.

The city men didn’t show up against Turloughmore in the opening round, losing by 1-8 to 0-17, after shooting 16 wides, converting less than a third of their scoring chances while Turloughmore landed over two-thirds of theirs. Mellows are a team in transition, and a major worry this week is the fitness of county star David Collins, who is struggling to shake off a foot injury but it’s likely he’ll play regardless.

‘Keeper Paddy Gannon (hip) is okay, John Lee (dead leg) should be fine, too, while Conor Hynes (hamstring) has recovered. Mellows responded well to the opening defeat, reportedly winning two challenge matches since, but they’ll need to find championship tempo quickly to avoid the relegation round robin.

St Thomas’ matched Gort stride for stride in round one but the county champions just had that extra little bit of nous when it mattered – that comes with experience – to make it over the line, 1-14 to 0-15. A youthful outfit that fielded eight U21s against Gort, Stt. Thomas’ had the chances to beat their neighbours and they’ll need to be more clinical when the goal opportunities arise.

They are without Gerald Murray, who received a match ban for his red card the last day, and according to manager John Burke, one of his five sons on the team, centre-back, Donal, is a doubtful starter (groin). If he doesn’t recover, it may require a ‘reshuffling’ of the starting XV, and could pave the way for minor Shane Cooney to land his first senior start having impressed off the bench against Gort. This game arrived too soon for Seán Skehill (broken finger). Verdict: St Thomas’

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune..