Portlaoise weather late rally by Fr Mathews to clinch crucial Super League win

Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers 82 

Catalyst Fr Mathews 78 

MIDLANDS Park Portlaoise Panthers survived a huge fourth-quarter fight back by Catalyst Fr Mathews in St Mary’s Hall on Sunday to clinch a hugely-important win in their 2025/26 Domino’s Women’s Super League campaign.

With just three points separating these two teams at the bottom of the table, Portlaoise were coasting to a victory that would double that deficit, as Peter O’Sullivan’s side opened up a 27-point advantage by the end of the third quarter.

But Fr Mathews, in desperate search of their first win of the season, went extremely close to hauling this tie out of the fire, outgunning their hosts by 23 over the closing ten minutes, Laila Blair and Grainne Dwyer spearheading that rally with a combined 16 in that final period.

Indeed, just two points separated the sides with 18 seconds left on the clock, but Alyssa Velles held her nerve to drain two of the four free throws she won thereafter, effectively dragging Panthers over the line.

It was certainly not a contest for the faint-hearted, Blair delivering a game-high 26 points, with Stacie Jones and Dwyer combining for a further 32 to help take this clash right to the wire.

But Portlaoise’s big hitters had inflicted just enough damage over the course of those opening three quarters to secure a vital win, Velles putting up 21 and Christiana Boiko 17, while Lynn Tunnah and Jessica Fressle weighed in with a further 25 between them.

Panthers boss, O’Sullivan, while relieved to see his team bag the hugely-important spoils on Sunday, was not happy at how his players made life so difficult for themselves down the stretch, telling the Laois Nationalist: “We seem to self-sabotage ourselves and kind of press that self-destruct button. We did it up in Cavan earlier in the season when we were in a great position. I think we’re just finding it hard to get over the line in games.

“We're putting together two or three quarter performances. We’d 75 points going into that fourth quarter today and we were cruising, but a few extremely bad turnovers resulted in them (Fr Matthews) scoring and turning the momentum at that point. We just couldn't get going on offence and, in defence, we were a bit all over the place as well.

“But a win is a win, and we knew how important it was. We didn't really care how we got over the line. We just needed to get that victory and hopefully those first three quarters will show us what we can do,” he said.

Lynn Tunnah drained shots from both sides of the arc as Portlaoise put up seven points before Mathews opened their account through Stacie Jones almost four minutes into proceedings.

Boiko also demonstrated her ability to land buckets from both inside and off the three-point line, while Velles followed suit, picking up two from the free-throw line to help leave Portlaoise in front 23-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Matters grew even more even ominous for the Cork side in the second period as Panthers served up a 13-point run that featured three buckets in the space of one minute from Holli Dunne ahead of another triple from Tunnah.

Blair managed to arrest that surge by way of two free throws, but Portlaoise kept the scoreboard ticking, Sarah Fleming converting two uncontested shots and a three to help see the home side take a 52-27 cushion into the half-time break.

O’Sullivan’s side added a further six points without reply immediately after the recess, with Jessica Fressle accounting for four of those.

But a ten-point response by Fr Mathews suggested the Cork side might well have the potential to mount some semblance of a stand, Jones and Blair scoring in the paint before Amy Murphy struck from downtown.

Yet both Velles and Tunnah continued to rain in daggers from beyond the arc, while Elaine Kennington served up a deuce to help keep Portlaoise very much in command at 75-48 by the end of the third.

This game appeared to be done and dusted, but Mathews had other ideas and two free throws from Blair along with a basket from Holly O’Brien signalled the start of stunning fight back.

Blair and Dwyer really began to punish on the inside, while Danielle O’Riordan and Murphy hit threes that helped close the gap to a mere two points, as Portlaoise went for more than six minutes without a score.

But the visitors ultimately faltered at the death, giving away fouls on which Velles duly capitalised to clinch Portlaoise a nail-biting win.

O’Sullivan’s crew are back in league action away to Utility Trust St Paul’s on Saturday 10 January, and the Portlaoise boss is hoping they can build on this result in the new year.

“We'd like to be able to kick on over the second half of the season, now knowing that we've a two-game advantage over the bottom team. It’s too early to say if that’s going to secure our league position or anything like that, but it's a win we needed,” he stressed.

MIDLANDS PARK PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Holli Dunne, Shauna Dooley, Ciara Byrne, Megan Dunne, Lynn Tunnah, Jasmine Burke, Elaine Kennington, Christiana Ojide Boiko, Jessica Fressle, Sarah Fleming, Alyssa Velles.

Top Scorers: Alyssa Velles (21), Christiana Ojide Boiko (17), Lynn Tunnah (15), Jessica Fressle (10).

CATALYST FR MATHEWS: Danielle Murphy O’Riordan, Amy Murphy, Abby Murphy, Grainne Dwyer, Ciara McCarthy, Laila Blair, Holly O’Brien, Saidbh Fitzgerald, Stacie Jones.

Top Scorers: Laila Blair (26), Stacie Jones (19), Grainne Dwyer (13).