In a Galway club championship game last year, Ronan O’Meara scored 0-11 from play.
The fact that this astounding contribution came against the eventual county champions, from a player whose team were beaten by more than 20 points, serves to make that tally even more impressive.
But anybody with half an eye on Portumna hurling knows what their 24-year-old forward is capable of. In terms of balance and pure skill, Ronan O’Meara is one of the most gifted around.
On Sunday, the final scoreline of 4-22 to 0-18 flattered a Sarsfields side who pulled away from Portumna late on in their first round Galway club championship clash, but O’Meara’s class and wizardry from the centre forward position – still resounded all over this game.
The Portumna captain started off as an absolute whirlwind in Kenny Park, Athenry, scoring Portumna’s first three points of the game.
These weren’t any normal, run of the mill points, these were O’Meara specials – carved out with pace, poise, and then finished with pure skill and grace.
It was his third point of the game, a strike from the sideline after a breath-taking rob from a Sarsfields defender that caught the attention, but in reality, each of his six efforts from open play, were as impressive as the next.
The renowned steal and strike gave flashbacks of a Tony Kelly effort in Wexford Park earlier on in the year but there were many occasions in this game when O’Meara resembled the Ballyea star in full flight.
YOINK!!
Ronan O'Meara picks the pocket and lasers one over from a narrow angle 👏pic.twitter.com/iqE1RNEtDC
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 26, 2020
In fact, take a look at the game’s highlights here where O’Meara dazzled with points off left and off right, off the hurl and on the run. Within ten minutes, he had three to his name and he kept chipping away until the end.
Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Sarsfields v Portumna in Round 1 of the Galway Senior Hurling Championship here on GAANOW!
Full-Time Score:
Sarsfields: 4-22
Portumna: 0-18 pic.twitter.com/W9P8yhjGgS— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 26, 2020
That final scoreline, showing a 16 point win for the 2015 county champions was indeed, an unfair reflection of what was for the most part, a tight game. For a more accurate reading, Sarsfields led by just four points after 53 minutes but the real turning point had come just minutes earlier when Joe Canning was harshly sent off for an innocuous incident. His nephew Jack was also shown a second yellow which really took the steam out of Portumna’s challenge.
For Sarsfields, last year’s county minor All-Star Alex Connaire shone brightly with some well-taken points while county star Joseph Cooney also hurled well, but the stand-out performer of the day was Portumna’s O’Meara.
A former county minor and under-21, he hasn’t yet got a good run with the Galway seniors but now would seem as good a time as any for Shane O’Neill to give him his break.
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