Before I go into the two teams, I want to talk about the referee yesterday, Barry Kelly.

ANOTHER loss for Clare in the 2009 Allianz Hurling League and, though their relegation to Division 2 was already decided, this one still hurt, and a decent-sized home crowd trundled away from sunny Cusack Park with spirits low.

IN the end, it turned out to be as easy as expected for Portumna. All the pre-game hype about this being one of the best club hurling sides of all time was justified.