‘If we win this one, it justifies 28 years’

THE thermometer is hitting minus three on a midweek evening in Ballinamere, just outside Tullamore.

With the wind chill, it feels like minus 23. On the pitch, the club hurlers of Portumna are going through their paces, their exertions plainly visible in the frosty floodlit air.

The session is fast, sharp and well organised by manager Sean Treacy. The two Portumna Allstars are present, Damien Hayes and Ollie Canning, along with Joe Canning, star of the future. Even in that august company, however, there is another who catches the eye.