Portlaoise continue the winning start to their league campaign

ACFL Division 1 Round 3 

Portlaoise 0-18 

The Heath 0-12 

PORTLAOISE'S unbeaten start to their ACFL Division 1 campaign continues after a back-and-forth victory over The Heath in Rathleague on Saturday evening. The sides traded scores throughout the majority of the game, with The Heath having to work incredibly hard to find parity with the hosts; however, Portlaoise always had enough in the locker to keep the visitors at arm's length, running out six-point winners in the end.

Portlaoise drew with St Joseph’s in the opening round before beating Ballyroan-Abbey while The Heath are still without a point having lost to both Courtwood and Emo.

Ciaran O'Donnell kicked Portlaoise in front early with one from play followed by a 45 before Ricky Maher fired over from outside the arc. A free from Paddy Fitzpatrick got The Heath on the board with a Sean Kirby adding another before long. Maher returned fire for the hosts but that was quickly cancelled out with a free from Conor Booth.

Midfielders PJ Daly and Josh Hogan landed a score at either end before Conor Booth and DJ White traded beauties to leave two points in the difference. The sides continued to go score for score, with a point each from Fitzpatrick and O'Donnell - the same two men who had opened the scoring for their respective teams.

That left Portlaoise up 0-8 to 0-6 at half time.

The second half followed a pattern of The Heath scoring twice only for Portlaoise to hit back with three scores on the bounce. The away side dominated the first ten minutes after the restart and drew level thanks to a 45 from Jimmy Nerney and a free from Conor Booth, but Portlaoise responded with three unanswered scores in as many minutes from Jack Brown, Darren Brennan and Ben O'Connor.

Fitzpatrick and Sam Rooney pointed for the visitors only to see Portlaoise reply through White, O'Connor and O'Donnell. It happened again in the closing stages when Fitzpatrick and Daly cut the gap to just two points, but Portlaoise put the game to bed with scores from Hogan, Brennan and a two-pointer from O'Connell.

Up next for Portlaoise is the visit of Graiguecullen to Rathleague while The Heath will also be at home when they host Ballyroan-Abbey.

SCORERS:

Portlaoise: Ciaran O'Donnell 0-6 (0-2fs, 0-2 45s), Ricky Maher 0-3, DJ White, Josh Hogan, Ben O'Connor and Darren Brennan 0-2 each, Jack Brown 0-1.

The Heath: Paddy Fitzpatrick 0-4 (0-2fs), Conor Booth 0-3 (0-2fs), PJ Daly 0-2, Jimmy Nerney, Sean Kirby and Sam Rooney 0-1 each.

PORTLAOISE: Cian O'Gorman; Gary Whelan, Chris Finn, Mick O'Connell; Colin McEvoy, Ben Reddin, Trevor Swayne; Ben O'Reilly, Josh Hogan; Dean Cullen, Benny Carroll, Ciaran O'Donnell; DJ White, Jack Brown, Ricky Maher.

Subs: Darragh Brennan for Carroll (5m, inj), Ben Conroy for Cullen (28m), Ben O'Connor for Reddin(ht), Conor Raggat for Swayne (ht), Ryan Tully for O'Reilly (ht).

THE HEATH: JP Nerney; Gary Roe, Denis Booth, Alan Whelan; Jimmy Nerney, PJ Larkin, Sean Kirby; PJ Daly, Robbie Dowling; Neil Keane, Colin Nestor, Sam Rooney; Paddy Fitzpatrick, Leon Holland, Conor Booth.

Subs: Joe Walsh for JP Nerney (ht), Niall Kirby for Nestor (39m), Dylan Keyes for Holland (45m), Robbie Ging for C. Booth (48m), Dan Booth for Rooney (55m).

Referee: Jamie McDonald (Rosenallis)