Cunningham fires Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe past Portlaoise and into Junior hurling final

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe 0-16 

Portlaoise 0-7 

PARK/Ratheniska-Timahoe will face Castletown in this year’s Laois Shopping Junior Hurling Championship final after Matt Cunningham led them to victory against Portlaoise in the LOETB Centre of Excellence on Thursday evening.

Having been relegated from the intermediate grade in 2025, Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe are now just one game away from an immediate return and their performances in the championship to date have underlined their credentials.

They finished top of Group B with three wins from three, overcoming Camross, The Harps and Rathdowney-Errill to secure their place in the last four. That earned them a semi-final meeting with Portlaoise, who finished second in Group A.

It was a woeful evening for hurling with the rain pouring since earlier in the day and not relenting whatsoever. It made for a sloppy game of hurling with both sides struggling to get their first touch and plenty of errors, but Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe won’t mind too much as they look to get straight back up to the intermediate grade.

Portlaoise handed Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe their first score as they were adjudged to have thrown the ball and it allowed Cunningham to tap over a free for their first score. The victors almost had a goal a few minutes later, but Eoghan Lonergan made a great save to deny Aaron Fitzpatrick after a great run from Conor Fitzpatrick.

Portlaoise’s first point came with 10 minutes played through Eoghan Nealon. He made it three points to one shortly after as he pinged over a sideline cut and pointed a free.

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe took over for pretty much the rest of the half with Cunningham adding two more frees, while Conor Fitzpatrick and David McEvoy raised a white flag each. The half ended with Nealon (free) and Conor Fitzpatrick trading scores as Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe led by three points at half-time, 0-7 to 0-4.

The first four scores after the restart were swapped as Nealon (free) and Eoin Carey scored for The Town with Cunningham pointing two frees down the other end. Shane Walsh then made a great interception from Sean Tynan as he looked to pass the ball inside for a clear goal.

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe got the next three points to up a six-point lead, with Cunningham and Conor Fitzpatrick (2) adding more scores to their names. Nealon briefly stemmed the flow, but Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe finished the game strongly with four more points unanswered.

Cunningham scored all four, including his two points from play. His first was a superb score from the sideline that was followed by a roar from the Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe bench.

The Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe number 11 finished with 11 points, the same number as his jersey, as his side booked their place in the final with a nine-point victory over Portlaoise.

They will now face Castletown, who have also won all four games they’ve played after topping Group A and beating Camross in the other semi-final.

SCORER:

Park/Ratheniska-Timahoe: Matt Cunningham 0-11 (0-9fs), Conor Fitzpatrick 0-4, David McEvoy 0-1.

Portlaoise: Eoghan Nealon 0-6 (0-4fs, 0-1 sideline), Eoin Carey 0-1.

PARK/RATHENISKA-TIMAHOE: Evan O’Connor; David Duggan, Danny Brennan, Brian Fingleton; Marc Ramsbottom, Eoin Shortall, Michael Brennan; Tom Fingleton, Aaron Fitzpatrick; Enda Shortall, Matt Cunningham, Colm Lalor; Paul Byrne, Conor Fitzpatrick, David McEvoy.

Subs: Gavin Tynan for Byrne (20m, inj), Sean Tynan for McEvoy (42m), Damien O’Connor for Lalor (54m), Dinny Troy for B Fingleton (62m).

PORTLAOISE: Eoghan Lonergan; Ryan Scully, Conor Ging, John Óg Hanniffy; Eoin Carey, Chris Lynch, Sean Powders; Shane Walsh, Lorcan Duff; Eoghan Nealon, Jamie Keenan, Niall Carey; Ronan O’Sullivan, Mark Stritch, Cormac Keegan.

Subs: Sean Devitt for Lynch (18m, inj), Kevin O’Neill for Stritch (24m, inj), Eoin Carey for O’Sullivan (36m), Keith Murphy for Devitt (50m).

Referee: Paul Dunne (Ballyfin)