GAELIC GAMES/All-Ireland Club HC final/Birr (Offaly) v Portumna (Galway):YOU HAVE to go back seven years to find the last time the club hurling championship concluded in a satisfyingly competitive final. Hopes will be high this afternoon can bridge that gap but Portumna have to be strong favourites.
No Galway side can make much of an argument about the harder route to an All-Ireland final, particularly when the traditional counterbalance to Connacht's lack of competitiveness, the strength of the county championship, ended with a whimper as Portumna ran riot in the final.
Nonetheless at the business end of things, the Galway side had the more demanding task in the semi-final and comfortably beat Munster's Loughmore-Castleiney.
Birr played smart to defeat Dunloy but the Antrim champions are not the force they were. The Offaly champions did, however, have to clamber out of Leinster past All-Ireland champions Ballyhale, a credential good enough to win the All-Ireland twice in three years, and a Ballyboden side that currently threatens a big future.
Manager Pad Joe Whelahan has seemed unsure whether it would be better to be rank outsiders against the blitzkrieg hurling of the Galway champions or be offended by underdog status.
Jimmy Heverin, whose steadying influence as Portumna manager these past three years ends today with his 27th match, has a championship record of 25 wins out of 26 - the one loss coming in a controversial county final of 2006.
On the one hand Birr are better than that Loughrea team; on the other Portumna off-days are rare.
Loughmore manager Eamonn Sweeney said his team struggled with the pace and strength of the Galway champions when the front eight ran at their defence.
That mobility and power are complemented by serious hurling. Joe Canning, the stand-out figure, showed as recently as the Fitzgibbon final that like Henry Shefflin even if he is well marked he can still rattle off hugely damaging totals from the placed ball.
The remarkable thing about Birr is the way they have recycled. When they lost the semi-final to Athenry eight years ago many assumed a great club was receding into history. Since then they have added two All-Irelands and now reached a third final this decade.
They have ball-winning capacity in the Hannifys and Brian Whelahan conducting the orchestra from centre forward. Their intelligent crossfield deliveries and traditional touch make them a dangerous proposition.
But Portumna have huge scoring potential with Damien Hayes zipping around the attack and a relentless raiding style. And Ollie Canning marshals their defence so well it will stand the test today.
