Galway SHC Semi-finals:Portumna reached their fifth Galway final in a row when they defeated Athenry 2-16 to 0-14 in a disappointing semi-final in front of almost 10,000 at Kenny Park, Athenry, yesterday.
Joe Canning's brilliance provided the inspiration for Portumna. Athenry lost Eugene Cloonan to injury in the second-half and will rue the 15 wides they amassed. Athenry led 0-5 to 0-3 after 17 minutes, but five points form Canning helped Portumna lead 0-9 to 0-8 at the interval.
Portumna increased their lead early in the second-half with another Canning point and a scrambled goal from Kevin Hayes. Athenry got within a goal of their rivals with six minutes left, but then Canning added two points before Niall Hayes set up Damien Hayes for the clinching second goal.
Meanwhile player-manager and former Galway star Gerry McInerney scored the decisive goal as Kinvara reached only their second ever Galway SHC final after a thrilling 3-14 to 2-11 win over Castlegar.
Two goals within five minutes from David Huban and Anthony Byrne gave Kinvara the ideal start in the opening half.
SCORERS
Portumna: J Canning 0-12 (eight frees, one sideline), D Hayes 1-1, K Hayes 1-0, N Hayes 0-2, A O'Donnell 0-1. Athenry: E Cloonan 0-6, (four frees, two 65s), S Glynn 0-3, D Donohue 0-2, D Byrnes 0-2, B Hanley 0-1.
Kinvara: David Huban 1-7 (five frees), A Leech 0-3 (one sideline), C Burke 0-3, A Byrne 1-0, G McInerney 1-0, D Smith 0-1.Castlegar: G Farragher 0-5 (four frees), D O'Gorman 1-1, C Burke 1-0, R O'Flynn 0-2, C Connolly 0-1, D O'Brien 0-1, D Geraghty 0-1.
