Canning one of four sent off

GALWAY SHC/Portumna 0-12 Athenry 0-12:JOE CANNING saw red and was sent off along with three other players in a brawl during a club match in Galway.

Canning got his marching orders following a melee between his club Portumna and fellow three-time All-Ireland club hurling winners and rivals, Athenry.

Canning was one of four men shown straight red cards by referee Peter Murphy during the 0-12 to 0-12 draw on Saturday.

Fellow Galway senior Andy Smith was also sent off for Portumna as well as Diarmuid Cloonan and Shane Donoghue from Athenry.

The incident occurred midway through the second-half of the final Group A match when a row broke out between Canning and Cloonan who were marking each other.

A number of players became involved with Smith and Donoghue being picked out from the pack as the other guilty parties following the fracas.

The draw saw Portumna top their group and claim an automatic route to the last eight, where they now could be without two of their key players for future assignments.