Hopes of a first ever Connacht Senior Cup for Portumna Community School were dashed when an injury-time try provided Garbally of Ballinasloe with their 42nd title at the Galway Sportsground yesterday.
Garbally were probably the more skilled outfit and they certainly had the superior pack. But it was Portumna's endeavour and heart that won the plaudits in this, their third appearance in the Connacht final.
Garbally rode their luck in the second half, having dominated the opening 35 minutes but had it not been for the poor goalkicking of their otherwise influential outhalf Julian Leonard, they would have been too far in front for Portumna to catch up.
Despite a bright start from Portumna, when Kevin Hayes kicked a superb penalty from just inside the half-way line, Garbally dominated and deserved their first try, from right-winger Conor Lavelle on 14 minutes.
Garbally pushed Portumna off their own ball and in a second phase move, centre Robert Kilroy provided the pass for Lavelle to touch down in the right corner. Leonard missed the conversion and three penalties before putting Garbally 8-3 up on 28 minutes.
Hayes landed a long-range penalty on the stroke of half time.
Portumna put Garbally under all sorts of pressure after the restart, thanks to some determined heckling and the teasing kicks of outhalf and Irish youth international Andrew Smith.
Smith put Portumna ahead after ten minutes and and Hayes slotted his third penalty with just three minutes of normal time remaining.
However the dominant Garbally pack had the final say. Behind 12-8 in injury time, they upped the pace and Portumna, after surviving a five-metre scrum, eventually buckled under the pressure. They lost possession in yet another scrum and Garbally's substitute prop, Patrick Halpin, dived through for the winning try three minutess into injury time.
Leonard's fifth penalty miss proved irrelevant. The player, who stars in the Garbally team that contests the Connacht Schools football final against favourites St Jarleth's of Tuam tomorrow, will be hoping for a double celebration.
PORTUMNA CS: C Finnerty; B Mooney, K Hayes, E McClearn (capt), F McGann; A Smith, P Smith; L Headd, C Dolan, J Mannion, P O'Rourke, S McEntee, M Gohery, R Headd, F Leonard. Replacement: R Kelly for Gohery (63 mins).
GARBALLY COLLEGE: C Lucas; C Lavelle, T O'Brien, R Kilroy, A Downey; J Leonard, S Kelly; R Forde, C Farrelly, F Darcy, D Gill, V Glennon, F Tierney, J Murphy, J Kenny (capt). Replace- ments: C Nevin for Forde (42 mins); J Buckley for Lucas (42 mins); P Halpin for Darcy (50 mins)
Referee: B Gillard (Connacht).
