Portumna rally to claim League and Cup double

SOCCER: North Tipperary and District League - First Division Barry Cup Final

Portumna Town 7

Borroway Rovers 2

Report: Gary Culbert in Ardcroney

Youth overcame experience on Sunday as an Adam Fogarty hat-trick and a brace from Jakub Wysocki helped ensure that the brand-new Barry Cup trophy was added to Portumna Town’s Division 1 league success from a few weeks previous.

Underdogs Borroway could scarcely believe the start they made, a goal up after five minutes thanks to a powerful header from Shane Dunne, following a menacing in-swinging corner from player/manager David Bourke.

Borroway settled into this cup final like it was just another game, with veteran Paraic Fogarty reeling in the years with a composed and controlling performance from central midfield.

Young winger David Greenwood was one of the few Portumna players rising to blistering early pace that the Thurles side brought. Borroway could not be subdued; everything they touched was coming off. A perfect example being when Bourke let fly from 25 yards out with a scorching effort, which Sean Hackett did well to get a hand to.

The sun came out after quarter of an hour, and with it Jakub Wysocki came into the game, getting free in the space between Borroway’s midfield and defence.

David Bourke was fired up for this game and there was nobody going to deny him his goal, which doubled Borroway’s lead in the 20th minute. The 35-year-old showed all the hallmarks of a complete striker for this solo goal: strength to hold off the first full-back under the quick kick-out; tenacity, desire and acceleration to get his toe to the bouncing ball before the next full-back came sweeping in, and composure to cushion the ball past the onrushing keeper.

Not even the most optimistic Borroway supporter would have been crazy enough to predict a 2-0 lead over the runaway league winners.

It could so easily have been three were it not for the vital intervention of Ronan O’Meara, who put his body on the line to clear a ball that was held up in the mud.

This was the key moment in the game, had Borroway gone 3-0 in front it surely would have been an unassailable lead for Portumna to overcome. Every high ball that came into the Portumna box looked like it could end in a goal.

Portumna were seriously rattled, they needed someone to step up and grab the game by the scruff of the neck, and that is exactly what Martin Touhy did with five minutes remaining in the half.

The big central midfielder dragged the Galwaymen back into the game with a thunderous strike from 25 yards. The 22-year-old is more reserved than his flashy teammates further up the pitch, but he does his talking on the pitch.

Portumna got the spark they needed and were level shortly after, when Jakub Wysocki’s scuffed shot looped up and over the helpless keeper in the last play of the half.

They went in front ten minutes into the second half as Adam Fogarty finished calmly inside the area after a Leon Tierney square ball.

In truth, Borroway were down and out for quite some time now, and there wasn’t much to come off the bench that could have turned the tide; once Mark O’Sullivan’s Portumna side get into their stride, there is little you can do to stop them.

Wysocki killed the game off in the 80th minute following a corner kick, when his emphatic finish from a tight angle rattled the post on the way in.

The floodgates opened now, with substitute Alan O’Meara showing good hunger to slide in for 5-2, before Adam Fogarty turned on the showmanship with a free kick of the highest quality. The first division top-scorer completed his hat-trick in added time with a tap in at the back post.

Ronan O’Meara, David Greenwood, and Jakub Wysocki all impressed, but Martin Tuohy was the player of the match, involved everything good that Portumna did.

Having been utterly dominant for 40 minutes out of the 90, Borroway Rovers will have left Ardcroney not quite sure what just happened and how it got so bad.

The youngest manager in the NT&DL, Mark O’Sullivan, ended the season with a debut league and cup double - not bad for a 27-year-old.

Player of the Match: Martin Tuohy (Portumna Town)

Portumna Town: Sean Hackett; Calum Moore, Ronan O’Meara, Davy O’Meara, Tyler Hannigan; David Greenwood, Martin Touhy, Oisin O’Sullivan (Capt), Leon Tierney; Jakub Wysocki; Adam Fogarty.

Subs: Michael O’Sullivan for Tierney (71); Alan O’Meara for Greenwood (76); Padraig Kennedy for Tuohy (84); Ethan Dagg for Hannigan (90); Eoghan O’Meara for Wysocki (90+2)

Borroway Rovers: Jamie Fernecombe; Davy Mahony, Gary Dunne, Shane Dunne, Shane Dempsey; Damian Walczak, Seamus Woodlock (Capt), Paraic Fogarty, Shane Turner; David Bourke, Tom Reilly.

Subs: Colm Breen for Turner (69); Thomas Quigley for Walczak (69); Simon McCarthy for Reilly (85); Masalitin Oleksandr for Dempsey (85); James O’Grady for Bourke (90).

Referee: David Butler.