Oct 14,2024
Portarlington 3-13 Portlaoise 0-13
Portarlington are the Laois senior football champions once again following a nine-point victory over Portlaoise.
Pat Roe's charges were led by incredible performances from Jake Foster and Colm Murphy - with centre forward Ronan Coffey pulling the strings - as they won comfortably in the end.
Goals in either half did the trick as Portlaoise's wait for a first title since 2019 goes on.
Unlike last year's snooze-fest between St Joseph's and Portlaoise, this game started like a train and that pace remained throughout the first half.
Portlaoise lost last year's final by 0-07 to 0-06 and that was the score in favour of Portarlington after 22 minutes here.
There was plenty of goalmouth action too with both keepers busy in that period.
Portarlington keeper Luke O'Reilly did really well to thwart Conor Raggett with his feet and down the other end, Conor Brown spread himself well to deny Colm Murphy.
In between, DJ White was excellent for Portlaoiose with four points from play while Kieran Lillis and Paul Cahillane also pointed.
Jake Foster and Colm Murphy carried the can for Portarlington while Daragh Galvin also scored before they got the half's only goal.
A long ball in from Ronan Coffey found Jake Foster one on one with Chris Finn. He weaved past the Portlaoise man and picked out the bottom corner.
Damon Larkin and Josh Hogan hit back for Portlaoise but scores from Murphy and Foster left Port 1-09 to 0-09 ahead at half time.
Jake Foster and Benny Carroll traded points when play resumed before Colm Murphy and Paul Cahillane did likewise by the 40th minute.
Foster took his tally to 1-6 and then Murphy moved on to six points as Portarlington led 1-13 to 0-11 with 45 minutes played.
And it was game over a minute later when Rioghan and Colm Murphy combined to set up Daragh Galvin who palmed past Conor Brown.
Josh Hogan replied but Portlaoise were then reduced to 14 men for much of the remainder of the game as Benny Carroll was shown a black card.
And Portarlington made their numerical advantage count with Colm Murphy scoring their third goal before the end.
Portarlington: Luke O'Reilly; Alex Mohan, Cathal Bennett, Mikey Bennett; Graham Weldon, Jason Moore, Jordan Fitzpatrick; Keith Bracken, Eoin McCann; Rioghan Murphy, Ronan Coffey, Darragh Slevin; Colm Murphy (1-06, 0-04fs), Daragh Galvin (1-01), Jake Foster (1-06, 1f).
Subs: Paddy O'Sullivan for Fitzpatrick (ht), Robbie Pigott for McCann (35), Colin Slevin for Weldon (48), Sean Michael Corcoran for Galvin (55), Curtis Lyons for M Bennett (60)
Portlaoise: Conor Brown; Ben Dempsey, Ben Reddin, Conor Raggett; Colin McEvoy, Emmet Maloney, Chris Finn; Damon Larkin (0-01f), David Seale; Josh Hogan (0-03, 2fs), Benny Carroll (0-01), Kevin Swayne; Paul Cahillane (0-02, 1f), Kieran Lillis (0-01), DJ White (0-05, 1f).
Subs: Conor Dunphy for Larkin (42, inj), Ricky Maher for Finn (48), Gareth Dillon for Cahillane (51)
Referee: Brendan Hickey (Graiguecullen)
