You’d think the veteran Portumna skipper was winning his first one…
Yesterday’s Galway senior hurling final was a day tinged with sadness following the death of Niall Donohue last week. The players from Portumna and Loughrea paid tribute to him before the game with a minute’s silence and at the presentation of the cup, a loud and long round of applause rang around Pearse Stadium in his honour.
On the field, it was Portumna who prevailed, beating Loughrea 3-12 to 0-14, and for captain Ollie Canning, it was a very special win.
You’d think, with five Galway titles and three All-Irelands, the 37-year-old might have been taking a back seat these days but instead he led from the front, and after not being in a final since 2009, it meant an awful lot to Canning.
“This victory is up there. It’s very very sweet,” he told the Irish Indo. “The last couple of years people were maybe writing us off. We didn’t get past the quarter-final for the last couple of years.
“There is no better way to bounce back when people are writing you off to come back and maybe answer your critics. We were just so happy, we knew we had the quality in the team, maybe we got a couple of breaks.”
“We had a few tough games in the quarter and semi-final to get here – but you need the breaks to get here. It’s great when you bounce back. People out there maybe think you are gone over the hill, so it is very, very sweet one this year.”
This picture sums up how he felt even better.
Are they on the march to St Patrick’s Day glory again? We wouldn’t bet against them…
