It’s hard to take. Sometimes sport is cruel and to have lost again by a point for the second year running, it is depressing. Personally, I had one of the worst games ever. I know that things did not go well for me at all. I let Galway down. I just hope I will get a chance to redeem myself again.

The players put everything into it along with the management. We prepared well and thought we were ready for it. We had the chances near the end to finish the job and just didn’t take them. Fair play to Tipp they stuck at it and got the bit of luck on the day. It’s not getting easier talking about it but I will just have to get on with trying to play well for the club and right now that can’t come soon enough.  

We (Portumna) have won all of our group matches in the Galway Senior Club Championship so we are guaranteed to progress to the knock out stages and to be honest I can’t wait for it. But it is a bit of a wait ‘til that game.

19^th September has been mentioned as a possible date for the next round of fixtures, so it is a while away yet. But to get back playing competitive hurling with the lads in the club will be great.

While training with the lads in the club has been a great way of getting away from the Tipp loss, I have also enjoyed the Galway races which finished at the weekend and have been able to dip in and out of it as the week panned out. It’s always a great festival and it was great to see the crowds at it. But my week wasn’t all about the horses as I took time out of the Races to watch the Bord Gáis Energy Munster GAA Hurling U-21 Final and I am glad I did because it was a great game.

Clare took it to Tipp in the first five minutes and were it not for Darach missing that goal maybe it would have been a different story in the end?

Between that missed chance and what I thought was a throw ball from Brian O’Meara for the Tipp goal you almost sensed it was going to be Tipp’s night. They showed their class in the end and I thought their half forward line was brilliant in the second half. Padraic Maher was unreal throughout the match. They will be very hard stopped in the semi-final.

Antrim are the ones facing that task and they will be no pushovers and will give it 100% but it will be a major surprise if they toppled the Premier. Antrim have some fine quality hurlers and that showed when their seniors beat Dublin earlier in the year. In the quarter-final they also ran Cork closer than many people thought with the duel between Cormac Donnelly and Aisake a match in itself! Antrim will be ready and Tipp don’t want to take them for granted as I am sure they won’t. 

In the other semi-final Dublin take on my own county Galway in what should be a hard, tough, close game. I am really looking forward to it because they are two exciting teams to watch. Dublin have been very impressive in their run so far this year. A brilliant win over Kilkenny and a late rally against Wexford was enough for them to win the Leinster championship. They will have to be slight favourites going into this one as Galway are coming into the championship cold again.

It will be tough for Galway to get to the intensity of championship hurling but I am sure the management will have them well prepared. If the likes of David Burke, Richie Cummins and Eoin Forde perform for Galway then I see us in with a great chance of upsetting the odds. Dublin will be hard to stop and players like Oisin Gough, Peter Kelly and Liam Rushe will be hard nullify but that’s the challenge that lies ahead for the lads. 

The two semi-finals should be exciting and great to watch and hopefully you, the supporters, will come out and give the games that extra edge when a huge crowd is present at the big games. I expect two tight games but Tipp to advance against Antrim and of course I hope it’s a maroon and white win in the other!

Best of luck to everyone involved and I am hoping to see lots of you there at the games.

Chat ya!

Tags: Antrim, Bord Gáis Energy, Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling U-21 semi finals, Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling U21 All Ireland Championship, Bord Gáís Energy Munster GAA Hurling U-21 Final, Clare, Dublin, Galway, Tipperary