For Ronan, captaining Portarlington was the ‘biggest honour’ of his life

Portarlington’s Ronan Coffey had the honour of walking up the steps of Laois Hire O’Moore Park to lift the Jack Delaney Cup after their nine-point victory over Portlaoise. Reflecting on the moment, Coffey called it the pinnacle of his sporting career so far.

“The biggest honour of my life anyway so far. We show up in finals. I think that was probably the best one yet, probably the most enjoyable. But what a team, like I couldn't be prouder, unbelievable,” Coffey said.

The Portarlington captain had full faith in his team, emphasising the strength of every player. Portlaoise’s man-for-man approach meant a tough battle, but Coffey felt they should have been further ahead by halftime.

“Well, they went man-on-man with us, which we expected, and I think we back ourselves every day of the week against any team. If they go one-on-one, like we have from 1 to 15, an unbelievable set of players. We probably should have been further ahead. We kind of missed maybe two goal chances in the first half, but yeah, look, we won by nine points so we're delighted,” he added.

Portarlington’s key players stepped up when needed, with standout performances from Jake Foster and Colm Murphy, each scoring 1-6.

“The lads were unbelievable, I think Jake hit 1-6, Colm probably the same around that. Darragh Slevin, I think it was his first final to start. Rioghan again, I can't speak highly enough for them all, so yeah, unbelievable lads,” Coffey praised.

Special recognition went to half-back Jason Moore for his dominant display, particularly in the second half when Portarlington upped their intensity.

“Jayo was an absolute animal. First half, Portlaoise were very good, they kind of gave it to us. I think they scored nine points, a lot from play. I don't know what the stat was, but they were very good. Second half, we stood up, we got a lot more aggressive, we got a lot more touch man-on-man, and as I said, Jayo was unbelievable again, he's just an animal of a man,” he said.

With the return of Colm Murphy, Robbie Pigott, and Paddy O’Sullivan, Coffey acknowledged the difficult choices Pat Roe had to make for the final.

“I didn't envy Pat's decision this weekend, it was very hard. Bringing home two county lads, and it would have been very hard to drop the two boys who were starting ahead of them. They’ve been unbelievable all year, Jordan [Fitzpatrick] and Graham [Weldon]. They were brilliant, and obviously, it's great to have them lads coming off the bench. I think they really drove us on,” Coffey explained.

Looking ahead to their Leinster Senior Club Championship campaign, Coffey said the team would focus on celebrating their county title before turning their attention to their next challenge.

“We won't worry about that yet, I think a few of the boys are getting flights now this week, but we back our team. I think we're probably only losing Colm and Jake from the starting line-up, I actually don't know when Jake's going. We’ll enjoy the next few days, and we'll worry about Leinster then, maybe next week or the week after,” Coffey said.

Portlaoise’s quick kick-outs had posed a challenge for Portarlington in the first half, catching them by surprise despite their plan to press higher.

“We probably didn't plan on doing that, to be honest, we planned on pushing up. They were just very quick with their kick-outs. I think they brought a forward back to kind of overload us, so they had done very well in that aspect. We didn't plan for that, to be honest. They probably got on top of us in the first half. The goal was a turning point again, like goals win games, and it won today, so yeah, delighted,” Coffey admitted.

With Portarlington leading by just two points after 39 minutes, they fired 1-3 without reply over the next eight minutes, a surge Coffey said was key to the win.

“That's a blur at the moment, like we targeted that at half-time. It is a Championship quarter; that's where games are won, and teams die off if you get a good start on them, so we were delighted with that,” he recalled.

When asked how it felt to stand on the field in the closing moments, knowing the victory was secure, Coffey couldn’t hide his excitement.

“The sweetest thing ever. We've won the last three finals by double digits, and we've always said, ‘oh, it'd be nice to win one by a point,’ but I'd win every one by 20 points if I could. It’s brilliant,” he concluded.