Former county star Gerry McInerney rolled back the years by scoring the decisive goal which sent Kinvara through to only their second ever Galway SHC final after a thrilling 3-14 to 2-11 victory over Castlegar at Athenry. Their opponents in the final will be former All-Ireland club champions Portumna, who reached their fifth decider in-a-row by virtue of a 2-16 to 0-14 victory over a disappointing Athenry in the second of Sunday's semi-finals at Kenny Park, which was watched by a 10,000-strong crowd. McInerney was the toast of Kinvara after the 42-year-old player-manager came off the bench in the second half to help the championship surprise packets to a famous win over the record title holders, who were appearing in their first semi-final in 20 years. Kinvara never looked like losing after early goals from David Huban and full forward Anthony Byrne, although a Cathal Burke major left Castlegar just four points in arrears at the interval, 2-6 to 1-5. Three points from match of the match Alan Leech extended Kinvara's lead on the restart and McInerney's goal had put them out of sight before David O'Gorman grabbed a late consolation goal for the losers. In the other semi-final, Athenry failed to come to terms with the brilliance of Joe Canning, who scored 0-12 (0-8 from frees) in Portumna's impressive win. Portumna led by 0-9 to 0-8 at the break, but they never looked back after Kevin Hayes scored a scrambled goal just after the restart. Athenry's cause was not helped by the loss of Eugene Cloonan to injury in the second half, and they were also left to rue a massive tally of 15 wides. Tweet

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