Portlaoise win promotion but made battle all the way by Roscrea

Portlaoise 25 

Roscrea 17 

NERVES were fraying, finger nails were chewed down to the quick in Togher on Sunday with Portlaoise holding a precarious one-point lead, that is until Bryan Croke intercepted a pass and ran half the length of the pitch to cross for the try that ensured the home side were promoted.

This was a winner takes all battle, effectively the Leinster League Division 2B final. Roscrea and Portlaoise were by far the two strongest teams in the division. Portlaoise had lost just one game all season, and that their opening game against Roscrea who remained unbeaten up to Sunday.

With the clock ticking down in Togher there were fears that this game was going to pan out just as that first game in Roscrea had. That day Portlaoise were leading coming to the business end of the game only for Roscrea to strike late and take the honours.

This time around Portlaoise were again leading (15-10) with 67 minutes on the clock. Portlaoise supporters were in a positive mood, that is until Roscrea’s No 8 Tadhg Hogan went in under the posts giving Jack Feeney a hand y conversion and Roscrea the lead.

This was an extremely good win for Portlaoise because Roscrea are a seriously good team and it is a shame that either of these would have to spend another season in this division.

Roscrea came roaring out of the blocks and could have taken the lead after just two minutes but Feeney’s penalty slip just wide of the target.

That did not upset Roscrea who had Portlaoise under the cosh. They were piling on the pressure and only some resulted defending from the home side kept them at bay.

Portlaoise lifted the siege briefly and it was enough to take the lead in the seventh minute. The whipped the ball across the backline out to winger Iain Corrigan who was stopped just short of the line. From the ensuing ball Paddy Coss picked and drove, taking three talkers to stop hit. But Cian Butler was on hand to gather and dive over for the try. Croke added the conversion.

For the next 10 minutes or so Roscrea held the upper hand and were causing Portlaoise all sorts of problems. They won a penalty on the five metre line, tapped and were held out and then won a five metre scrum. Hogan picked from the base of the scrum but his pass was intercepted by Croke who was illegally tackled giving Portlaoise a relieving penalty kick.

All the while the Roscrea back division were causing problems for Portlaoise. They looked as though they had got a break was hacked on and as Cathal Ryan and Oisin Hade raced after the ball the strong wind carried it over the dead ball line – a huge let off for the home side.

The visitors were back in the race on the half hour mark when Portlaoise were penalised at a ruck and Feeney found the mark.

Four minutes later Portlaoise extended their lead. This time a jinking run from Croke saw him break the cover and feed Mark Sherlock who in turn picked out Coss. He drove forward and from the ruck Jake Byrne fed Ryan McEvoy who crashed over.

But Roscrea were not going away. From the restart they put together a fabulous back line move which sliced open the Portlaoise defence and Brian Bergin went in for the try. Feeney’s conversion left the score at 12-10 and that was how it remained despite some strong Roscrea pressure.

Portlaoise had a dream start to the new half when Roscrea dropped the kick off deep inside their half. From the scrum Portlaoise won a penalty and Roscrea centre Mikey Fitzgerald was yellow cared for a high tackle. Croke converted the penalty from 30 metres out.

The sides were largely nullifying each other as the minutes passed by until Roscrea penalised for holding out midway between the half way line and the 10 metre line. Croke elected to go for the posts but his kicked drifted just to the left of the posts.

And it was really game on when Hogan crossed for his try.

Croke had another chance to extend Portlaoise’s lead in the 75th minute from 35 metres, out wide on the right. He looked to have nailed it but the swirling wind caught the ball and it clipped the woodwork.

But out half gave Portlaoise some breathing space two minutes later. Full back Oisin Hade made a magnificent break and Roscrea were pinged for entering the ruck from the side. This time Croke split the posts to a huge roar from the home support.

But there was to be an ever louder roar when Croke ran in for that late, late try and added the conversion for good measure.

And only then did the celebrations start, celebrations that went on long into the night.

SCORERS:

Portlaoise: Bryan Croke 15 (1 try, 2 conversions, 2 penalties), Ryan McEvoy and Cian Butler 5 (1 try each).

Roscrea: Jack Feeney 7 (2 conversions, 1 penalty), Tadhg Hogan and Mark Dwyer 5 (1 try each) 

PORTLAOISE Oisin Hade; Niall Keenan, Padraig Culleton, Kevin Griffen, Iain Corigan; Bryan Croke, Jake Byrne; Paddy Coss, Ryan McEvoy, Aran Coiley; Mark Sherlock, Michael Rigney; Liam Doyle, Cormac Rigney, Cian Butler.

Replacements: Eoin Keenan, Joe Stevens, Eanna Moynihan, Darragh Davies, Glen Connolly, Mark Kelly, Jamie Holohan.

ROSCREA: Mark Dwyer; Jack Ormond, Delacy Byrne, Neil Foyle, Cormac Murray; Jack Feeney, Brian Bergin; Peter Hennessy, Mikey Fitzgerald, Cathal Ryan; Seamus Treacy, Ben Spencer; Gordon Shannon, Andrew Hodgins, Tadhg Hogan.

Replacements: John Maher, Enda Maher, Josh Moloney, Luke Standish, Alex Moloney, Brian Doughan, Mervyn Hayes