Abbeyleix dig deep to secure a vital draw against Portlaoise
Portlaoise's Conor Raggett finds himself in a tight corner surrounded by Abbeyleix players in their ACHL Division 1 game on Sunday Photo: Denis Byrne
Portlaoise 1-15
St Lazarian’s Abbeyleix 0-18 ABBEYLEIX were forced to dig deep to secure a vital draw against Portlaoise in Abbeyleix in torrid weather conditions early on Sunday afternoon.
While officially a home game for The Town, they had to make the quick trip across to Abbeyleix to fulfil the fixture with the works going on in Rathleague, as has been the case for the full campaign for Pat Critchley's men.
While both sides will have felt that all the points were there to be taken at different stages during the game, sharing the spoils meant that both sides rose above Castletown in the table as all three teams sat on two points at the bottom of Division 1 coming into the weekend.
The centre forwards were the stars of the show for both teams with Portlaoise's newest import Ryan Denny impressing once again with 1-9 while Abbeyleix stalwart Eoghan Fennelly struck eight points.
The sides struggled to find scores early on, with the first coming on six minutes when Enda Rowland was summoned up to take a free inside the Portlaoise half, a testament in itself as to how tough the conditions were and he added another a minute later.
His hard work was cancelled out instantly when Ryan Denny fired a free into the danger zone from his own 65 and it caught the Abbeyleix backs on the hop and bounced into the net.
Denny added another two points to his tally soon after before a quick trio for The Fung through two from Eoghan Fennelly and one from Cormac Byrne, all from play.
A score from Sean Culleton got Portlaoise back on track before a brilliant brace of scores from Denny on either wing saw them edge further ahead.
Cormac Byrne replied with a free but Portlaoise saw out the half strong with two late scorers from Cathal Duggan to give them a 1-7 to 0-6 lead at half time.
The rain calmed as John Lalor blew the whistle to start the second half but the breeze remained and Cormac Byrne got the first after the break.
Portlaoise fired back through Denny and DJ White before a purple patch for the hosts saw them cut the gap to a single point with scores from Colin and Ciaran Byrne, Kevin Fitzpatrick and Fennelly within the opening 10 minutes of the half.
The intensity ramped up with a huge two points at stake and the sides went score for score three times in succession with Denny (2) and White on target for Portlaoise in reply to Fennelly, Colin Byrne and Jack Finlay.
Portlaoise increased their lead to three once again with a brilliant third point from Duggan followed with another Denny score with five minutes left on the clock.
The finishing line was in sight for Portlaoise, but Abbeyleix had more in the tank down the final stretch as Fennelly struck from play before expertly dispatching a brace of frees to draw the sides level in injury time.
Denny however, nudged Portlaoise back into the lead with a free, yet there was time for a final Abbeyleix attack when Colin Byrne's shot was deflected out for a 65 and Fennelly made no mistake in levelling it up once again with the final puck of the game.
Both sides are still under pressure to pull out some results to avoid the threat of relegation and Abbeyleix will have to be on top form when they welcome Borris-Kilcotton at the end of the month, while next up for Portlaoise is an unenviable trip to Camross.
SCORERS:
Portlaoise: Ryan Denny 1-9 (1-5fs, 0-1 65), Cathal Duggan 0-3, DJ White 0-2, Sean Culleton 0-1.
Abbeyleix: Eoghan Fennelly 0-8 (0-3fs, 0-1 65), Cormac Byrne 0-4 (0-1f), Enda Rowland (fs) and Colin Byrne 0-2 each, Jack Finlay and Kevin Fitzpatrick 0-1 each.
PORTLAOISE: Brochan O'Reilly; Frank Flanagan, John Mark Foley, Eoin O'Connor; Ciaran McEvoy, Cormac Rigney, Conor Raggett; Ross Brennan, Dean Lynch; Sean Culleton, Ryan Denny, Cathal Duggan; DJ White, Cian Dowling Byrne, Liam Conroy.
ST LAZARIAN'S ABBEYLEIX: Enda Rowland; Lewis Churchouse, Oisin Carroll, Eamon Fitzpatrick; Stephen O'Donnell, Fionan Mahony, Alan Lynch; Aaron Carroll, Jack Finlay; Liam O'Keeffe, Eoghan Fennelly, Eli Quinn; Kevin Fitzpatrick, Cormac Byrne, Colin Byrne.
Sub: Ross Coffey for O'Keeffe (ht).
Referee: John Lalor (Shanahoe)
