Portlaoise go two for two in Division One with road win over Malahide
RICH Ashu spearheaded Portlaoise Panthers' impressive win over Malahide on Saturday Photo: David Maher
Men’s National League
RICH Ashu spearheaded another seriously impressive performance by ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers that saw them surmount a strong Malahide team to make it two from two in the 2025/26 Men’s National League in Malahide Community School on Saturday night.
The newly-acquired centre enjoyed a huge game, amassing 26 points and 15 rebounds, as they fought back from three points down at the close of the first quarter to bag a solid victory on the road.
Xabi Arriaga, Kevin Donohoe and Mike Wallace also made their presence felt under the boards, mopping up a combined 22 rebounds, with the latter also chalking up as many points as well as seven assists, while Davin McEvoy added a further 16 to Panthers’ scoreline.
Both sides had four players in double digits, Sean Daly and Matthew Harper doing much of the heavy lifting for Malahide with a combined 36 points, while Daniel Heaney and Oisin Rice totalled 21 boards, but even that was not enough to halt Portlaoise, who returned home with the victory.
The two sides went toe-to-toe throughout their opening quarter, Daly opening the scoring for the hosts before Panthers turned that deficit on its head with buckets from McEvoy and Ashu.
Romonn Nelson struck from both sides of the arc to help propel the Dublin outfit five points up, but two quick threes from Wallace and Donohoe had Portlaoise back in front by two, only to see Malahide pick up seven points in the closing minute of the first quarter to lead 24-21.
Ashu, however, began to really make his presence felt in the second, during which he carded 10 points and seven rebounds to help see his side turn a four-point deficit into a nine-point lead (50-41) by the half-time recess.
Malahide’s Oisin Rice and Harper did their utmost to stifle that momentum, getting in for 13 points between them in the second quarter, but the hosts still needed a big response after the half-time break if they were to avoid fading out of this game.
Instead, it was Portlaoise who accounted for the opening six points of the third, pushing their advantage out to 15, Wallace, Ash and McEvoy doing the honours on that occasion.
Malahide managed to cut that gap to eight, but Portlaoise again hit the accelerator and strung together 10 unanswered points compliments again of the aforementioned McEvoy, Wallace and Ashu to leave their side with a 13-point cushion (70-57) heading into the final period.
Daly did draw first blood for Malahide in the fourth, but it failed to spark a serious push by the home side that would have threatened Panthers’ hold on this game.
Donohoe saw both of his attempts from downtown drop through the string, with Trevor Swayne also picking up points from distance to help ensure a comfortable win for Jack Scully’s side in their first road game of the campaign.
The Portlaoise head coach was pleased with the performance of his players, telling the *****Laois Nationalist*****: “I’m always happy to pick up a road win. I was very happy with our defence. Keeping a team to around 70 points is always what we aim for.
“I felt that the players all performed. There was a nice spread of scoring across the team. Rich Ashu had a huge game with 26 points and 15 rebounds and I felt that his dominance on the inside was the real base for our performance,” he said.
While pleased with the start that his team has made to the new season, Scully is keeping his players very much grounded ahead of their next test, which comes in the form of another road trip, this time to a Carrick Cruisers team that will be looking to make a swift return to winning ways following their 96-80 loss away to Maigh Cuilinn on Saturday night.
Portlaoise twice beat Carrick in the 2024/25 regular season on their way to reaching the Division One play-off final, but Scully is certainly not taking this challenge lightly and insists his players will have to be in top form for Saturday’s trip to Phoenix Centre.
“We’ve had a good start to the season, going 2-0, but we’re not getting carried away, so we’ll head back into training this week, refocus and head to Carrick next weekend.
“Carrick are extremely difficult to play away from home, so we’ll be getting ready and focusing on that,” he insisted.
Cillian Duignan, Romonn Nelson, Tom French, Sean Daly, Oisin Rice, Mick Curley, Matthew Harper, Fionn O’Driscoll, Stephen Safo, Daniel Heaney.
Sean Daly (20), Matthew Harper (16), Romonn Nelson (12), Daniel Heaney (12).
Dylan Dunne, Mike Wallace, Jayden Umeh, Trevor Swayne, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Rich Ashu, Xabi Arriaga, Kyle Burke.
Rich Ashu (26), Mike Wallace (22), Davin McEvoy (16), Kevin Donohoe (11).
