Polished Portumna leave Na Piarsaigh reeling

Portumna (Galway) 1-15 Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) 1-11

“It will take a while to get over that one. But I said before the match, in conditions like this you’re not blaming anyone. They were better than us.”

And that was it in a nutshell. Fielding a young side, their age profile reduced considerably when starlet Ronan Lynch (barely 17) started in place of Damien Quigley (nearing 43), the Limerick champions went to Thurles with justifiable faith and confidence in their own ability. They left though a much-chastened outfit, schooled in the both the art and science of championship hurling.