Portumna 0-20 Padraig Pearses 2-8 The talents of Galway hurling sensation Joe Canning were on show once again last Sunday as fourteen of his points at saw Portumna overcome Padraig Pearses comprehensively at Duggan Park to advance to the county Under 21 B hurling final. It was Pearses that took the early initiative in this semi-final, racing into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead after 11 minutes thanks to the scores of Damien Wynne, Thomas Flannery and their lethal full-forward Emmet Ward. From there though, it looked like Portumna were about to take control when Ger Kelly and Canning (3) raised white flags, but the Ballymacward outfit were not about to lie down and a goal from Ward on 20 minutes, after the Portumna defence failed to clear, that shot them into a 1-5 to 0-7 lead. However, Canning was in inspirational form to send over three more before the break to help his side out, and when Martin Dolphin and Jimmy Gelston swapped points just two points separated the sides in Portumna's favour. The second-half saw Portumna knock over five unanswered points in the opening seven minutes, with another hat-trick from Canning and the points of Ronan Hayes and Dolphin establishing a strong platform heading into the last 20 minutes. The winners' defence held strong and there was no coming back at that from Pearses, and when Shane Rafferty sent a 21 metre free to the net with five minutes left it only provided a late consolation as Portumna stormed into the county decider. Tweet

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