‘It was always about just getting over the line’ - Roe
Portarlington manager Pat Roe was happy with his team's performance but added there is room for improvement Photo: Denis Byrne
PORTARLINGTON are up and running in this year’s AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship thanks to an easy win over Carlow champions Old Leighlin.
Speaking after the game, manager Pat Roe said that Saturday evening’s game was always just about getting over the line.
“Yeah, that's really it I suppose. We had just a week to turn around from the replay of the county final. That was on our minds a bit. We wanted to get a workmanlike performance and just get over the line really and we did,” he said.
Roe’s team came into the game having not had much time to prepare as they only got the better of Courtwood in a replay seven days previous. The players celebrated that win and Roe was delighted with most aspects of the game.
“Right, they should. I mean the county final is the county final and the county championship is the county championship, so there was no issue with that. And look, we recovered well during the week. I thought the mindset was quite good. A lot of the stuff we did, particularly around our hard work and our work ethic, I was quite pleased with,” Roe said.
Portarlington dominated for most of the contest, but Roe felt they should have put the game to bed before Ronan Coffey’s black card gave the Carlow side a route back into the game.
“There are other things I'm not happy with. I thought we’d a dominance for 10 minutes in the second half, and we didn't finish the game off. We allowed Leighlin to get a purple patch that caused us a bit of trouble. We’ve lots to look at before the Monasterboice game,” he said.
The Laois SFC champions let Old Leighlin go short on kick-outs, which allowed Portarlington to press them into mistakes. Roe admitted that was something they identified coming into the contest.
“That was part of our plan. We looked at Old Leighlin. We thought they were very competitive around the middle third on long kick-outs. We also looked and thought they like to go a bit short, and again, we did see opportunities for us. I thought throughout the game we did get joy out of that,” Roe admitted.
Portarlington were without the services of Sean Byrne and Jake Foster on Saturday evening as both players returned to Australia. Another big loss is to come for Roe’s side as he said that Robbie Pigott is also set to leave the panel for the same reason.
“Robbie's leaving, so that makes the hill a bit harder to climb. But look, we've got good depth in the squad and there's an opportunity now for lads to stake a claim for a place. We're in a quarter-final and there's a lot to play for. We’ll work on the basis that we still have a team that's capable of winning a quarter-final,” Roe concluded.
