Battling spirit not enough for Portlaoise to get the better of The Harps

The Harps 1-23 

Portlaoise 1-15 

THE Harps clinched their second win of the 2026 Laois Shopping Centre SHC on Sunday afternoon with an eight-point win over Portlaoise in Laois Hire O'Moore Park.

Portlaoise came into the game as big underdogs despite beating The Harps last year, but they made them work very hard for the two points and did particularly well in keeping The Harps' potent attack at bay, allowing just one goal against a team that have raised nine green flags in their opening two games.

The teams went score for score for much of the game before The Harps just upped the levels from the midway stage of the second half to pull away and clinch victory, leaving themselves now with a great chance of progression from their group.

The Harps have been rampant in front of the goals since the championship got underway and they looked to add another one to their tally straight from the off in this once but Eoin Delaney was thwarted on the line and they had to settle for a pointed 65 from Eoghan Murphy.

Ciaran Comerford doubled their lead from a free before replies from Cormac Rigney and Ryan Denny reeled them back in.

Another Murphy score edged The Harps back in front and they were on the hunt for goals once again but Brochan O'Reilly and Ciaran McEvoy did well to get behind the series of attempts before Justin Duggan settled for a point and Comerford put three between the teams with a second free with ten minutes played.

After making a good start to the contest, The Harps failed to score for the next 17 minutes and The Town got down to work themselves to overturn the deficit and take a three point lead themselves.

Davy Delaney pointed well from play and Cathal Duggan followed up with an excellent score before Denny levelled with a free on 20 minutes.

That free proved to be unpopular with Portlaoise however, as it came about when DJ White had beaten Podge Delaney to run in on goal but had his helmet taken off in the process and instead of Liam Conroy's resulting goal being left to stand, the play was stopped as White had no helmet and a free was awarded.

While that happened at one end of the field, a scuffle ensued at the other and there were yellows for Eoin Delaney and Conor Raggett, bringing the first half total to four as James Duggan also received one in a separate incident beforehand.

Denny, Duggan and Liam Conroy all pointed to increase the Portlaoise lead to three with three minutes left to injury time.

The Harps rallied back themselves with a brace of frees from Comerford coming off the back of mistakes at the back for Portlaoise while Eoghan Murphy and James Duggan both struck from play and Comerford made it 0-10 to 0-8 at half time with a free.

Cathal Duggan struck three of the opening four points in the second half to bring Portlaoise back on level terms by the 38th minute, with Comerford striking back with a free for The Harps.

The first from play came from Cody Comerford from way out the field and David O'Mahoney marked his introduction as a blood sub with a point, before coming on full time a minute later.

After the sides going tit for tat in the opening ten minutes of the half, The Harps would eventually take full control of proceedings and hit the next five points in a row with a Comerford free kicking off the run, followed with a brace from play by Justin Duggan and two more from Comerford, one a free and one from play.

Five points now split the teams but a brace of frees from Duggan cut the gap back to three as The Town battled to stay in touch.

Both sides emptied the benches and The Harps bench proved to be very effective with the evergreen John Brophy striking three points from play in the final minutes and Hugh Whelan adding another while Rian Edwards also got in on the act.

Despite the flurry of scores, a late goal from Portlaoise sub O'Mahoney kept them in with the barest of chances in injury time but all hope was eradicated when James Duggan found himself free at the end of the field and he ran it inside before driving home past O'Reilly to seal the win.

SCORERS:

The Harps: Ciaran Comerford 0-9 (0-7fs), Eoghan Murphy 0-3 (0-1, 0-1 65), Justin Duggan 0-4, James Duggan 1-1, John Brophy 0-3, Hugh Whelan, Rian Edwards and Cody Comerford 0-1 each.

Portlaoise: Cathal Duggan 0-8 (0-6fs), David O'Mahoney 1-1, Ryan Denny 0-3 (0-1f), Liam Conroy, Davy Delaney and Cormac Rigney (f) 0-1 each.

THE HARPS: Bobby Murphy; Ciaran Flynn, Cody Comerford, Jack Kennedy; Donal Deegan, Podge Delaney, Eoghan Murphy; Rian Edwards, Padraic Dunne; Tony Mahony, Ciaran Comerford, Mikey Monahan; Justin Duggan, James Duggan, Eoin Delaney.

Subs: Ross Deegan for Mahony (ht), John Brophy for Delaney (44m), Hugh Whelan for Monahan (44m).

PORTLAOISE: Brochan O'Reilly; Conor Raggett, Ciaran McEvoy, Eoin O'Connor; Frank Flanagan, Cormac Rigney, Cian Dowling Byrne; Sean Luke Taylor, Cathal Duggan; Cian Taylor, Ryan Denny, Matthew Dempsey; DJ White, Liam Conroy, Davy Delaney.

Subs: Sean Culleton for C Taylor (24m, inj), David O'Mahoney for Conroy (blood, 39-42m), David O'Mahoney for Delaney (45m), Ross Brennan for Dempsey (49m), Dean Lynch for SL Taylor (52m), Matthew Dempsey for Dowling Byrne (61m).

Referee: Kieran Bowe (Rathdowney/Errill)