Bring on Birr, says McEntee

PORTUMNA full-back Eugene McEntee hopes his side can emulate former Galway champions and defeat Birr in the All-Ireland Club hurling final.

McEntee produced a superb performance on Loughmore-Castleiney danger man Micheal Webster in yesterday’s thrilling semi-final victory at the Gaelic Grounds. Now he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Sarsfields and Athenry and capture club hurling’s biggest prize on St Patrick’s Day.

Said McEntee: “We’ve been watching Birr winning All-Irelands down through the years. I have an uncle in the town and he’s always on about Birr, Birr, Birr. Now we’re going to be trying to put Birr back a bit, like Sarsfields and Athenry have done before. That would be special.”

He added: “We’ve got to five county finals in-a-row, we won three; we’re now in our second All-Ireland final, after being beaten in one semi-final – that’s not bad.’’

Of his joust with Micheál Webster, he added: “Micheál was going to be getting up in the air. I just concentrated on my own game. Then I started to get out and clear a few balls – I knew I had him beaten there. If I could get on top of Webster in the first-half the boys around me would start hurling, and that’s what happened. I’m delighted to be back in another All-Ireland final.”

A four-point lead at the break, having played with the aid of a strong breeze, wasn’t the most comfortable of cushions for Portumna, but a five-star second-half display from teenage star Joe Canning, despite being clearly still not fully recovered from a recent hamstring injury, put the Galway champions on the road to Croke Park.

Having already contributed 1-2 in the first half he added six points in the second and was involved in another couple of scores. “Joe was getting serious treatment for the past couple of weeks,” big brother Ollie explained. “We felt if he got through the first five minutes, the first three or four balls, he’d probably make the full 60 minutes. He got through that and got himself into the game. The goal he got at the start was crucial, things weren’t going well for us at the time.”