Rathdowney/Errill breeze past Portlaoise to retain qualification hopes

Rathdowney/Errill 4-19 

Portlaoise 0-9 

RATHDOWNEY/Errill were totally dominant against Portlaoise on Sunday afternoon in their must win Round 4 clash in the Laois Shopping Centre SHC in O'Moore Park this afternoon.

The summer sunshine that we've come accustomed to in Portlaoise deserted us on Sunday as grey skies descended over Laois GAA HQ and a bitterly cold breeze blew towards the town, but tempers remained hot throughout in what was a crunch game for both teams, particularly Rathdowney/Errill.

Coming into this weekend Rathdowney/Errill knew that they couldn't afford a slip up here if they were to have any hope of progressing to the quarter-final stage, and that will still apply next weekend when they face Abbeyleix as they remain one point behind Borris/Kilcotton, who will be taking on Rosenallis.

The loss leaves Portlaoise now sweating going into the final round where they will be facing Clough/Ballacolla as both Abbeyleix and Ballinakill are hot on their heels, just one point behind them in Group B.

Paddy Purcell was excellent in victory for Rathdowney/Errill, finishing with a tally of 2-1 from play in an all around brilliant display from full-forward.

Despite the loss of Mark Kavanagh to suspension, Rathdowney/Errill were ruthless going forward with Jack Kelly, Paddy McCane, Tadhg Dowling and James Ryan all impressing with scores.

Rathdowney/Errill had built up a lead of 2-10 to 0-5 with the wind in the first half as they hurled towards the Town End, though their dominance continued in the second despite facing the breeze and Portlaoise couldn't live with them.

Portlaoise were without their centre forward Ryan Denny again for this crunch game, but his replacement Gary Bergin got the scoring underway from the right side of the field.

Tensions were high early with plenty of niggle from both sides but Rathdowney/Errill hurled away and scored the next four points in succession with James Ryan slotting their first before a free from Jack Kelly and once each for Thep Fitzpatrick and Tadhg Dowling.

Cian Taylor was forced off with injury in the first half, though not before he pointed well under pressure and DJ White got Portlaoise's first from a free after they had seen three efforts go awry from placed balls.

Both keepers were called into action and did their duties midway through the half, while Tadhg Dowling added a second point before Portlaoise drew level with a 65 from Cormac Rigney and a White score from play.

That would be the last of the scoring for The Town in the first half as Rathdowney/Errill took total control for the final 15 minutes before the break.

Paddy Purcell got their first goal when Dowling won a puckout and played it inside to the full-forward Purcell who rounded his man and bulleted his shot across Brochan O'Reilly's goal into the bottom corner.

A score from Kelly followed after more good work by Purcell and he added another from play and another again from a free, in the absence of the suspended Mark Kavanagh.

Purcell once again continued to be a menace in his new position outside the square when he won possession outside the 21 and raced inside on goal, forcing Eoin O'Connor to pull him down and concede a penalty.

Paddy McCane's effort was initially saved by O'Reilly but Tadhg Dowling was quickest off the blocks on the race inside and he stroked it home off the ground and Thep Fitzpatrick added his second from play before half time to make it 2-10 to 0-5 in favour of Rathdowney/Errill.

It took just two minutes for Rathdowney/Errill to find a third goal when a shot from Paddy McCane held up perfectly in the wind for Purcell to rise and guide it over the head of O'Reilly.

Portlaoise got a few scores early the half from Ciaran McEvoy, Rigney and White but they were under pressure from the off as Rathdowney/Errill set about increasing their score difference, which can make all the difference in the new format.

Paddy McCane almost got in for a goal himself but O'Reilly did well to close off the space after making a save and McCane had to settle for a point, while Kelly popped over a couple of frees along with scores from play by Tadhg Dowling and Ray Bowe.

Purcell continued to be a menace at full-forward, winning further frees for Kelly to strike an also playing a huge role in Bowe's point and Rathdowney/Errill got in for a fourth goal when Paddy McCane did very well to beat Frank Flanagan to a high ball and poke it in front of himself to run onto and smash into the net to round off a huge win for his team.

SCORERS:

Rathdowney/Errill: Jack Kelly 0-9 (0-7fs),Paddy Purcell 2-1, Tadhg Dowling 1-3, Paddy McCane 1-1, Thep Fitzpatrick and James Ryan 0-2 each, Ray Bowe 0-1.

Portlaoise: DJ White 0-3 (0-2fs), Cormac Rigney 0-2 (0-1 65), Ciaran McEvoy, Gary Bergin, Cathal Duggan and Cian Taylor 0-1 each.

RATHDOWNEY/ERRILL: Damien Madden; Shane Madden, Kevin O'Dea, Shane Bracken; Padraig Rafter, Dylan Carroll, Thep Fitzpatrick; James Ryan, Eoin Bracken; Micheal Cleary, Jack Kelly, Ray Bowe; Tadhg Dowling, Paddy Purcell, Jack Dowling.

Sub: Paddy McCane for Cleary (15m).

PORTLAOISE: Brochan O'Reilly; Conor Raggett, Frank Flanagan, Eoin O'Connor; Matthew Dempsey, Cormac Rigney, Cian Dowling Byrne; Ciaran McEvoy, Cian Taylor; Sean Luke Taylor, Gary Bergin, Ben Brennan; Cathal Duggan, Liam Conroy, DJ White.

Subs: Sean Culleton for C Taylor (25m, inj), Ross Brennan for B Brennan (ht), Davy Delaney for SL Taylor(ht), Dean Lynch for Dempsey (51m).

Referee: Alan Doheny (Castletown)