Professional Portlaoise dispose of old rivals in Ladies Senior Football Championship

LFGA SFC s-f 

Portlaoise 1-12 

Timahoe 1-7 

A professional performance from Portlaoise saw them overcome Timahoe on Sunday afternoon in the first of the Ladies Senior Football Championship semi-final double header.

Their quest for three in a row continues and they will once again come up against St Conleth’s in the decider, for the third year in a row, though now under new management after the departure of now Laois senior manager Stephen Duff at the end of last year’s campaign.

Portlaoise also came up against familiar foes in Emo on Sunday with the pair having met in at last year’s semi-final stage also where Portlaoise came out on top by seven points in a brilliant performance.

The Town were without Sarah Anne Fitzgerald and Aisling Kehoe who were both named to start on the program and are two big losses to the forward line for Portlaoise, but they managed without them and were able to get up a head of steam in the first half to pull away to victory.

The midfield pairing of captain Ellen Healy were paramount to Portlaoise’s success on Sunday as they were both excellent in the middle of the park and provided an excellent springboard for the forwards to flourish and when the likes of Grainne Moran and Alison Taylor are given that support they rarely falter, which they didn’t in the semi final as they were electric throughout.

We have become accustomed to excellent performances from Mo Nerney for club and county down through the years and she stepped up to the mark once again on Sunday as she kicked 1-5 in defeat in a fine performance for Timahoe against the odds.

Portlaoise held Timahoe to just one point in the opening 25 minutes of the game, which as one would expect, proved to be the undoing of Timahoe as The Town held a seven point lead by that stage which they never looked like relinquishing as they showed magnificent patience in ball retention.

To their credit Timahoe did rally before the break via Nerney and managed to lower the gap to 1-5 to 0-4 at half time which provided a glimmer of hope as they appeared for the second half and that glimmer increased ten-fold when Nerney found the net early in the second half.

The experience of winning in the big moments shone through for Portlaoise however as they refused to panic and settled once again in possession and took the chances when they presented themselves to put clear daylight between them and their opponents.

It was the aforementioned Grainne Moran that got the scoring underway in the first minute with a magnificently kicked effort off her left boot that just crept inside the bar after Portlaoise showed some excellent defending at the other end to deny Timahoe.

Nerney replied with a free before Portlaoise showed their danger on the counter attack when Moran forced an excellent save from Aoibhe Brennan.

Leah Loughman kicked the game’s first free six minutes in as Portlaoise continued to dominate possession but didn’t probe too far in attack.

Portlaoise let the shackles off midway through the half when Alison Taylor slotted after some excellent play by Moran and Fiona Dooley created an opening high up the field and four minutes later Taylor was on the mark again, this time a run from Ciara Byrne down the right flank and a clever one-two with Dooley set Taylor free inside.

Things soon got worse for Timahoe when Ciara Crowley played an inviting handpass towards Susie Delaney and she was adjudged to have been fouled by Aoibhe Brennan as the collided in the battle for possession and a penalty was awarded which Moran neatly stuck in the corner.

A minute later Moran slotted a free between the sticks and seven points now separated the teams.

The goal did appear to light a fire under Timahoe however as they would score the next three points on the trot, all via Nerney.

The first was a free from 30 metres out and the second after a driving run down the right when she was played in by Orla Hennessy, and the third came from another free won by Katie Donoghue.

Portlaoise would bite back before the half time stage however with Fiona Dooley blasting over from range and Loughman seeing out the half with a free to make it 1-7 to 0-4.

The second half started with a bang when Hennessy fired a long ball into Nerney and she took possession before turning and rifling it into the net in a flash.

Moran hit back with her third score after big pressure on the Timahoe kickout and Portlaoise began to slow the game down as they reset and the only score for the following 10 minutes was a Katie Donoghue free.

Portlaoise were camped in the Timahoe half and it began to pay dividends as they struck three quick scores in a row through Jess Saunders, Moran and an excellent effort from Loughman under pressure to put six between the sides with five minutes left.

Timahoe gave it one last push late on and narrowed the gap with points from Nerney and Loughman, but Portlaoise’s ability to keep possession limited the chances for Timahoe and Loughman kicked the final score of the game to secure Portlaoise’s place in the final.

SCORERS:

Portlaoise: Grainne Moran 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), Leah Loughman 0-4 (0-3fs), Alison Taylor 0-2, Jess Saunders and Fiona Dooley 0-1 each.

Timahoe: Mo Nerney 1-5 (0-3fs), Katie Donoghue 0-2 (fs).

PORTLAOISE: Kiev Gray; Aoibhe O’Brien, Deirdre Phelan, Ciara Crowley; Ciara Byrne, Ashling Saunders, Niamh Crowley; Fiona Dooley, Ellen Healy; Alison Taylor, Susie Delaney, Rebecca Keane; Molly McNulty, Leah Loughman, Grainne Moran.

Subs: Jess Saunders for McNulty (34m), Rebecca Reddin for Taylor (60m) TIMAHOE: Aoibhe Brennan; Niamh Keogh, Maureen Young, Ellen Dunne; Keira Gorman, Heather Bennett, Orlaith McNamara; Orla Hennessy, Sarah Larkin; Sinead Goode, Mo Nerney, Jenny Murphy; Ava Dempsey, Katie Donoghue, Niamh Dundon.

Subs: Roisin Larkin for K Gorman (ht), Anna Murphy for Dempsey (45m), Sarah Quigley for Goode (56m).

Referee: Eoghan O’Neill (Courtwood)