The senior hurlers had their second outing of the Senior Hurling League yesterday, against former All-Ireland Club Champions Portumna, in Fohenagh. Both teams were without their county representatives, some of which (Cyril Donnellan, Andy Smith, Joe Canning and Damien Hayes) were on duty in Ennis in the Inter-Provincial Final in Ennis for Connacht. Portumna were quickest out of the traps and led by 0-7 to Pearses’ 0-1 after 15 minutes. Their domination continued for the remainder of the half, leaving the half-time score at 0-13 to 0-4 (Flannery 0-2, Shane Raftery and Darragh Skehill 0-1 each).
The Second half belonged to Pearses. Though Ivan Canning was on target from placed balls for Portumna, Pearses were creating more chances. It was a big improvement on the first half and led by Shane Raftery and Tomandamp;aacute;s Flannery, Pearses slowly pulled back the Portumna lead. Portumna did threaten to take back full control at times, but had some bad wides and Chunky Hayes rattled the crossbar midway through the half. Flannery was reliable from placed balls and Shane Raftery, Robbie Donnellan, Kerrill Hardiman and Enda Cunniffe chipped in scores from play. However, time ran out in the end.
Pearses: P O’Brien; T McDonagh, T Kenny, P Raftery; S Hardiman, S Raftery (0-4), C Ward; J Gelston, E Cunniffe (0-1); D Skehill (0-1), K Hardiman (0-1), N Skehill; R Donnellan, T Flannery (0-9), R Skehill. Sub used: G Lally, C Raftery.Portumna: J Keane; P Smith, O Canning, S Touhy; O Treacy, M Dolphin, C O’Hare; G Heagney, E Lynch; Ivan Canning, L Smith, C Burke; R Hayes, K Hayes, N Hayes. Subs used: J Flanagan, R Royston, J Coughlan. Referee: S Moran (Meelick-Eyrecourt)