All-Ireland club finals, 17/3/2010

[Plain of the Herbs]

Reading the media herd’s analysis of tomorrow’s club hurling final, one would be forgiven for thinking each side contained but one quality forward (albeit one of real quality) and fourteen mullockers carried along by the exploits of their respective top scorers. Thankfully, both sides carry a full complement of hurling talent and we should be set for a final of real intrigue.

First, the head-to-head. We need only look at last year’s semi final where Portumna ripped the Ballyhale rearguard apart, scoring five goals. What few remember is that it was a much more even contest on the balance of play, but those goals made all the difference.

The difference between winning and losing, apart from the obvious, is that the losing side know they need to improve and work diligently on their shortcomings. Think Offaly footballers after the failed All-Ireland attempt in 1981. The winners generally look to maintain current form.

Ballyhale’s restructured defence faces its biggest test, Aidan Cummins now filling the number 3 this year, presumably with opposition number 14 in mind.

Portumna have pioneered a new mode of full forward line play, where their inside line hurl, back to goal, some thirty yards from the end line. Joe Canning’s role, generally, is to act as the fulcrum of the attack, getting on the end of the deliveries and laying off to Niall or Damien Hayes on the burst who break the defensive line and bear down on goal.

We can only look at how Ballyhale counteracted forward movement in their semi-final win over Newtownshandrum, where their midfield and half forward lines played deep, eliminating space in their defence. Granted, Newtown should have scored more during the second half, but Ballyhale were convincing winners. We can expect the space between the edge of the ’D’ and the 45m line in the Ballyhale defence to be a congested area tomorrow.

A common ploy has been to deploy an extra player between the Portumna half and full forward lines, but I feel the extra man might be better deployed in the ‘D’ behind the full back line to ‘read’ and counteract Portumna’s goal attempts.

In the current issue of Sliotar magazine, Christy O’Connor looks at club finals over the past decade and considers why Club Finals have tended to over as contests long before the end. It is true, and Club Finals have tended to take a particular trend from the start and carry on that trend for much of the match. This is quite unlike a Inter-county Final, where team A gets a start, team B reels them in, there’s a lull midway through the second half before the winners pull away in the last ten.

Of course, the oldest way, and still the best way, to put a halt to a seemingly unstoppable forward is to cut off the supply. Ballyhale have the middle eight which might just do that, and it’s in the middle eight where this match will be won and lost. Ballyhale’s midfield, Fitzpatrick and Fennelly look daunting, though Eoin Lynch and Leo Smith form a solid combination. Will either midfield come face-to-face other than at the throw-in though? That remains to be seen.

Elsewhere TJ Reid versus Gareth Heagney will be crucial. Will Micheál Ryan hold the centre or follow Henry Shefflin on his travels? How will former full back Eamonn Walsh fare outfield? His getting stuck into Kevin Hayes could derail Portumna.

Club hurling finals, while producing quality hurling, have failed to deliver contests of real excitement. Given the contestants, this one might just be different. Ballyhale’s greater hunger, with the quality to back it up, might just swing it their way.

A word on the football final. I saw St. Gall’s in their previous final appearance against Salthill and frankly I thought they were the worst football side who ever fielded in Croke Park. Their steadfast refulal to kick the ball, even in the scoring zone, cost them and they were pipped by a Satlhill side who took their chances. Now maybe that was a one-off, or the Belfast side have changed their approach, but if that was an example of their true form, then Kilmurry-Ibrickane are not without hope here. A win for the West Clare side would produce one of the truly great occasions in Croke Park. We’ll see.

[leinsterman]

Has to be portumna for me can't see the ballyhale fullback line stopping canning and hayes.
if portumna get a good start like last year it will be over at half time.

Hope portumna win anyway it will still keep birr level on top with ballyhale and portumna.
if the shamrock's start well it could be a classic of a game.

i will go for a 5 to 7 point win for portumna.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Hunger is a great sauce and Ballyhale had that in spades today. They were first out to the ball in all sectors of the field, which is always the best policy anyway, while Portumna seemed to deploy some ‘Offaly’ hurling of waiting for the ball to hop before gathering, and were surrounded.

Portumna had never lost a final before and sometimes carrying that ‘baggage’ leads to a false sense of optimism. Instance Clare in 2002 or Offaly in Centenary year.

Portumna changed plan for today, starting with Joe Canning close to goal. It almost paid off early on when he brought what looked like a good save out of Connolly, but the umpire waved wide and the referee concurred.

Some day someone will do a study on why club hurling finals carry a particular trend from start to finish. Ballyhale had the forwards who could score from all distances and angles even though Micheál Ryan hurled well against Shefflin. If TJ Reid would trust his right hand side a bit more the attack would be complete. The ability to score from distance meant there were no ‘three-quarter’ balls hit in for Ollie Canning to sweep up.

The ironic thing is that in a bid to bring Joe Canning into the game by moving him to wing forward, Portumna were forced to move Andrew Smith, their best attacker to that point, away from the action, while the Hayes trio couldn’t get into it, with the exception of Damien’s two points before half time while hurling at midfield.

Portumna’s half back line did come into it in the second half and they got the margin down to four points quickly enough, but Ballyhale always had the forwards to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Portumna will always wonder what might have happened if Ivan Canning hadn’t taken his eye off that ball, given that the final margin was five, but Ballyhale were always well on top and given that they were hurling so well would probably have dictated the final quarter anyway.

Joe Canning’s second half points were sublime, but of the non-county men Eamonn Walsh had a fine game in the centre of defence. Bob Aylward is a fine hurler too.

[leinsterman]

Hold my hands up got it quiet wrong, ballyhale played the kilkenny way and portumna had
no answer to them today.

As for joe canning great game again today he is some hurler .

[Georgio1]

A fair good call PLain! I called Portumna myself on the basis that their forwards would have too much for Ballyhales backs.