Ronan is happy that all the preparation is done

PORTARLINGTON captain Ronan Coffey is feeling confident and at ease as this side prepares to face Portlaoise in the Senior Football Championship final. With everyone fit and ready, Coffey says they won’t change much and they’ll treat it like any other game.

“All good I suppose. We won't change much at all. It's obviously a county final but it's just another game for us and we'll have to try and keep ourselves a bit level. But you know, it's all good, everything's going well so far,” Coffey said.

On a more personal level, Coffey commented on the ‘huge honour’ of being named as captain for the 2024 season.

“It's a huge honour. Pat told me in the dressing room in front of the lads there and look, I probably wasn't expecting it. Keith Bracken there has done a great job the last five or six years and yeah, look, it's a great honour and one I'm delighted with anyway.” Coffey has great admiration for the younger members of the squad and emphasises how important their role is in the team. He also spoke about the buzz of having the double header with Portarlington also facing Portlaoise in the minor final before their game and what it would mean for the community having not won minor in seven years.

“You have to have them guys coming up. The likes of Darragh Slevin has been unlucky with injury this year but he's coming back there now, he's been brilliant. I suppose the likes of Mikey Bennett, Rioghan Murphy, sure Rioghan has been unbelievable, you have to have lads coming up. It's great that our minors are in a final there as well which you need. You need lads coming up, challenging lads every year in training because I suppose we've lost a few of the older lads there the last few years, it's imperative that they're coming up every year, you know. It's going to be unreal I suppose. We haven't won a minor in seven years, and I don't remember the last time there was a double final between two teams so yeah, it's going to be unbelievable especially since it's Port and Portlaoise, there'll be a bit more bite to it, I'm looking forward to it.” Portarlington were relegated from Division 1 in the league campaign, but Coffey noted that as a side they only began to train in March with most teams being two or three months ahead. Speaking about his manager Pat Roe, Coffey said from the start, Roe’s main aim was to peak for Championship.

“During the league we kind of lost three or four games by a point and we kind of felt we were close enough. Obviously, we only went back training in March, so we've always been aiming to peak for a championship. I believe that's what we're doing now but like I suppose during the league maybe teams had two or three months even training on us and we felt like we peaked in maybe June last year. From day dot that was Pat's message, that we're going to peak for August, September, October. So, I feel like we're doing that now anyway, thank God. Pat's first thing he ever said to us was we're going to win a championship and I suppose we all looked at him like he was a madman because of the players we lost, and it was kind of a dent to the confidence losing them boys. But since day dot he has just instilled that into us that we're going to win a championship and I suppose we're a game away from it now, so we'll see how it goes.” Coffey reflected on the championship to date, Coffey believes their performance against Ballyroan was their best this year. The team weren’t pleased with their first performance against Graiguecullen which helped them through the semi-final win.

“The first game was against O’Dempsey's, it's always a local rivalry, always going to be a hard game and all you want to do is come out with a win. Against Graigue, we weren't too pleased with our performance, we still could have nicked it which just goes to show that we're probably never really beat. Against Clonaslee we were decent, and it was probably just a matter of winning that game and getting into a quarter-final and then Ballyroan we only won by two, but it was probably our best performance of the year, then Graiguecullen again, I suppose the second half was probably the best half of our year. So, we're very pleased with it and it's going well, thank God.” Speaking about the semi-final, Coffey spoke about the wind having a huge impact on the day. He expressed how important the goals were and that they came at a great time for his side.

“It was a very, very strong breeze. First half I think we managed it very well. We got kind of a lucky goal, but Keith Bracken done well. But I think we held the ball for four or five minutes before that, which was something we'd probably struggled with the last few years with making rash decisions and rash shooting. So, it's something we've learned through experience and that. I was very pleased with the first half and then the second half, we scored some great goals there and we kind of threw Graiguecullen away in the first 10 minutes which was pleasing. You'd like to think that scoreline would beat most sides, especially against that wind, we knew if we got a few goals that Graiguecullen would probably find it hard to score 2-7 or 2-8 or whatever the difference would have been at half-time. We were very pleased with it.” Speaking about the big day itself, Coffey reckons the game needs to be won all over the field with each man taking responsibility for their performance. He had admiration for Portlaoise’s style of football and believes it will be a challenge to overcome.

“It'll be won all over the field. Portlaoise are going man-on-man this year and they're playing all-out football which is admirable. They've probably been the best team in the Championship so far. So, it'll be won all over the field. I think every man will have a personal battle with his man and it's up to each man to win it from there, we're really looking forward to it. I know it's cliche, but Portlaoise have been unbelievable this year. So, we'll have to be 10, 15, 20 percent better than we have been all year.” Portarlington saw the return of Paddy O’Sullivan for the quarter-final and Colm Murphy for the semi-final. The standard these two lads bring to the game is immense and they had a huge impact on the day and brought ‘a boost to us all’.

“Well look, the boys are inter-county standard players and getting them back, having Colm come off the bench there against Graiguecullen was a huge boost to us all, and having Paddy back there as well against Ballyroan, the commitment they've shown, the sacrifice they've made has been unbelievable. Colm is the gel in our forward line anyway. He's just such a cute player and brings lads into the game. Even just to have him there, even if he didn't touch the ball, he'd still bring everyone else on 10 or 15 per cent more, and I think that happened against Graiguecullen. They've been brilliant for us.”