Portarlington finish strong to seal county final spot

Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship s/f 

Portarlington 1-15 

Graiguecullen 0-6 

PORTARLINGTON’S drive for a fifth Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship in six seasons remains intact after they overcame Graiguecullen in Sunday’s semi-final at Laois Hire O’Moore Park. It was a repeat pairing of last year’s last-four clash, with Portarlington once again advancing at Graiguecullen’s expense.

The sides had already crossed paths in this year’s competition, with Graiguecullen claiming a second round victory back in August. On this occasion, however, it was the defending champions who found the answers when it mattered most.

In truth, the game never really hit top gear, and Graiguecullen will regret not capitalising on Portarlington’s below-par performance. Both teams were guilty of inaccuracy, with Graiguecullen kicking nine wides and Portarlington registering ten.

Graiguecullen almost made the perfect start straight from the throw-in, as Aaron Forbes broke the ball to Mark Timmons, whose shot whistled narrowly wide. At the other end, Portarlington created a similar opportunity after three minutes when Paddy O’Sullivan drove along the end line, only to send his effort wide of Craig Doyle’s upright. Portarlington’s Jake Foster eventually opened the scoring with a free.

Moments later came the first turning point. Darragh Galvin’s attempted point rebounded off the post and dropped kindly into Colm Murphy’s hands. He stepped inside Doyle and finished into an empty net. Foster quickly added another free, leaving Portarlington 1-2 to 0-0 in front after nine minutes.

Seven scoreless minutes followed until Lee Walker got Graiguecullen off the mark from a free after Portarlington infringed the three-back rule. The remainder of the half was stop-start, with a further 13 minutes passing without a score. During that spell, Graiguecullen’s Ross Hennessy almost struck for goal, but Luke O’Reilly made a fine save, tipping the shot onto the post.

Murphy extended Portarlington’s lead to five with his first point from play before Graiguecullen mounted a mini revival. Walker landed a two-point free, brought forward for a Foster infringement, before tagging on another placed ball to narrow the deficit. Portarlington went in 1-3 to 0-4 ahead at the interval.

The second half mirrored the first, with scores at a premium early on. After eight minutes, Colm Murphy converted a free, though Sean McGrath had earlier produced a superb tackle to prevent him from finding the net. Brian Byrne responded quickly with a point for Graiguecullen, but Murphy added another free and O’Sullivan split the posts to push Portarlington four clear entering the final quarter.

Byrne clipped over his second to keep Graiguecullen in touch, but that proved their final score of the contest.

From then on, Portarlington assumed full control and demonstrated why they remain the team to beat. They reeled off nine unanswered points in a dominant closing spell. Murphy contributed three of those, O’Sullivan added two, while Ronan Coffey and Jordan Fitzpatrick each struck a two-point score to leave the gap at twelve by the final whistle.

The champions will now return to the county final stage on Sunday 12 October facing county final debutants and neighbours, Courtwood, once more aiming to keep their recent stranglehold on the competition intact.

SCORERS:

Colm Murphy 1-6 (0-5fs), Paddy O'Sullivan 0-3, Jake Foster (0-1f), Jordan Fitzpatrick (1 two-pointer) and Ronan Coffey (1 two-pointer) 0-2 each.

Graiguecullen: Lee Walker 0-4 (0-2fs, 1 two-point free), Brian Byrne 0-2.

PORTARLINGTON: Luke O’Reilly; Mikey Bennett, Robbie Pigott, Curtis Lyons; Hugo Emerson, Jason Moore, Patrick O’Sullivan; Keith Bracken, Sean Byrne; Darragh Slevin, Ronan Coffey, Rioghan Murphy; Colm Murphy, Darragh Galvin, Jake Foster.

Subs: Eoin McCann for Emerson (38m), Jordan Fitzpatrick for Byrne (54m, inj), Tom Corcoran for Moore (56m), Sean Michael Corcoran for Galvin (58m) GRAIGUECULLEN: Craig Doyle; Sean McGrath, Danny McGrath, Kian Lawlor; Mickey Horohan, Trevor Collins, Brian Byrne; Jamie Sheehan, Mark Timmons; Daniel O’Reilly, Lee Walker, Jack Byrne; Ross Hennessy, Aaron Forbes, Ben Dorgan.

Subs: Aaron Dorgan for Sheehan (52m), Aidan Bradley for J Byrne (57m), Eoin Alsybury for Horohan (58m).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Stradbally)