Stradbally end Portlaoise’s 10-in-a-row hopes in dramatic fashion

Stradbally 2-10 Portlaoise 1-12

A stunning goal from Jody Dillon with almost the last kick of the game denied Portlaoise the 10-in-a-row in O'Moore Park and earned Stradbally their first title in 12 years.

With the two minutes of injury time almost up, Dillon took a pass from Gary Comerford and fired an unstoppable effort past Graham Brody .

Portlaoise looked like they had done enough with late points from Stuart Nerney and Brian Mulligan but Stradbally refused to give in and got their reward.

After playing with the wind, Stradbally led 0-9 to 1-4 at half-time after big scores from Gary Comerford, John Donohue, Dillon, Pádraig Fitzpatrick and Colm Begley. Portlaoise's goal came from Brian McCormack but he was forced off injured soon after and his loss was a big blow to Portlaoise.

Four points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, however, gave Portlaoise the lead but a brilliant Gary Comerford goal gave Stradbally a surge of energy. Adrian Kelly and Craig Rogers responded to put Portlaoise back in the lead and although Comerford levelled things up from a free, Portlaoise hit two points with time running out.

However, Stradbally rallied again and Dillon’s late strike won the day.

STRADBALLY: D Beale; C Beale, L Knowles, J Kavanagh; Cormac Delaney, E Buggie, J Donohue (0-2); D Maher, C Begley (0-1); D Murphy, G Comerford (1-5, three frees), Conor Delaney; P Fitzpatrick (0-1), J Dillon (1-1), G Ramsbottom.

Subs: S Lawlor for Cormac Delaney (26 mins), T Shiel for Fitzpatrick (34 mins), D McEvoy for Conor Delaney (48 mins), Cormac Delaney for Shiel (59 mins), Colm Kelly for Ramsbottom (59 mins).

PORTLAOISE: G Brody; C Finn, D Seale (0-1), C Healy; B Mulligan (0-1), K Lillis, G Dillon (0-1); C Boyle, S Nerney (0-1); C Dunphy, B Smyth (0-1), B Glynn; P Cahillane (0-5, two frees), B McCormack (1-0), C Rogers (0-1, free).

Subs: A Kelly (0-1) for McCormack (inj, 25 mins), C McEvoy for Dunphy (50 mins). R Maher for Kelly (54 mins).

Referee: E Kinsella (Courtwood).

Rhode join Tullamore on 27 title mark

Rhode 1-14 Ferbane 0-9

Rhode joined Tullamore at the top of the Offaly SFC roll of honour by blitzing Ferbane to annex their 27th title at O’Connor Park.

Pascal Kellaghan’s crew continued their trend of getting their hands on the Dowling Cup every second year since they completed a three-in-a-row in 2006.

Man of the match Niall McNamee had two points on the board early on but Shane Nally pulled one back and Ferbane then had a shout for penalty that went unheeded by experienced referee Fergal Smyth.

That was as good as it good for them though as Rhode showed all their know-how, epitomised by the likes of midfielder Alan McNamee, who was chasing a record-equalling ninth senior medal.

Rhode were already four points ahead by the time Paul McPadden shook the Ferbane net after 16 minutes and the excellent Anton Sullivan launched two fantastic points as his side pushed home their advantage to lead by 1-9 to 0-3 at the interval.

It was plain sailing from there to the end as the victors kept the scoreboard ticking over with Niall McNamee bringing his tally to six points from play and giving him the remarkable record of being at least joint top scorer in eight finals.

RHODE: K Garry; J McPadden, J Kavanagh, E Rigney; N Darby (0-1, free), B Darby, S Sullivan; A McNamee, C McNamee; S Hannon (0-2), P Sullivan, A Sullivan (0-3); P McPadden (1-1); R McNamee (0-1), N McNamee (0-6).

Subs: G O'Connell for Hannon, D Garry for P Sullivan, C Heavey for Kavanagh, G McNamee for P McPadden, E Byrne for R McNamee

FERBANE: K Sammon, S Wren, J Egan, C Cahill, B Grehan, L Fox, J Nally, K McManus, C Egan, O Kelly, S Nally (0-6, fs), D Cox, J Maher (0-1f), A Keenaghan, J Clancy. Subs: K Nugent (0-1) for Clancy, D Keenaghan for A Keenaghan, C Lowry for J Egan, A McDonogh (0-1) for J Nally

Referee: F Smyth

Sarsfields retain Kildare title

Sarsfields 2-13 Moorefield 0-15

Sarsfields retained the Kildare SFC with a hard fought win over Newbridge rivals Moorefield at St Conleth’s Park.

In their fifth successive final, Sarsfields struggled in the first half and were 0-8 to 0-4 down in first-half injury time but the game swung in their favour when they were awarded a controversial penalty for an off the ball foul by Liam Callaghan on Dan Nea. Ray Cahill confidently converted to leave just one between the teams at the break.

The eventual winners were much improved in the second half with half-time substitute Conor Tiernan having a big impact on the game.

They got their noses in front early in the second half before Moorefield battled back to take the lead. Alan Smith’s 37th-minute goal gave them a 2-6 to 0-10 lead and they still led by two when the game’s final decisive moment arrived in the 51st minute.

Newly appointed Kildare senior team selector Ronan Sweeny, Moorefield’s talisman and up to that point best player, was shown a red card for kicking out at Gary White.

From there Sarsfields took charge of the game and saw out the win to end a hoodoo that had seen them lose five finals to their neighbours since 2002.

SARSFIELDS: A O'Brien; C Duffy, S Ryan, C Hartley; B Coffey, G White, D McDonnell; C McDonnell (0-1), C Kavanagh; B McCormack, R Cahill 1-5 (1-0 pen, three frees), C McInerney Aspell (0-1); D Nea (0-3, one free), R Fitzgibbon (0-1), A Smith (1-0).

Subs: C Tiernan (0-2) for Coffey (h/t); J Healy for Duffy (42 mins).

MOOREFIELD: T Kinsella; L Callaghan, N Galvin, L Healy; R Houlihan, P O'Flynn, A Durney; D Whyte (0-1), K Murnaghan; E O'Connor (0-2), R Sweeney (0-4, three frees), A Tyrrell (0-5, three frees); C Kelly (0-2), J Philips (0-1), J Murray.

Subs: Niall Hurley-Lynch for Phillips (49 mins); Ian Meehan for Kelly (58 mins); D Flynn for Durney (60+2 mins); C Barrett for Tyrrell (60+3 mins).

Referee: F Barry

St Columba’s end 66-year wait in Longford

St Columba’s 1-8 Abbeylara 0-8

St Columba’s Mullinalaghta ended 66 years of hurt when they claimed the Longford Senior Football title with a fine win over their near neighbours and rivals Abbeylara.

The half parish were full value for their win despite trailing by two at the break; 0-5 to 0-3.

Mullinalaghta got the decisive goal inside the opening minute of the second half as Jayson Matthews and Gary Rogers combined to set up Aidan McMcElligott.

Abbey levelled matters in the 35th minute through Nigel Rabbitt but Mullinalaghta hit a purple patch and held a two-point lead in the 47th minute.

A Robbie Smyth free in the 49th minute cut the deficit to just one but Mickey Graham’s charges pulled ahead in the final 10 minutes with McGivney kicking over three fine frees to put four between them in the 58th minute.

Smyth was on target again with a free in stoppage time but try as they might they couldn’t get that elusive goal and for the second year in a row they had to settle for second best.

Aided by a significant breeze Abbey dominated the opening half with Smyth in terrific form kicking over three of their five points.

Abbey opened up an early three-point lead in the sixth minute with Smyth, wing back Colm P Smyth and Jason Kelly (free) all pointing over.

With the Abbey defence resolute Mullinalaghta found them hard to break them down and had to wait until the 10th minute to get their opening point through Donie McElligott.

Abbey twice went ahead by three points as Mullinalaghta struggled to get scores on the board and hit a number of wides. Rogers had a chance for them just before half-time but his effort went narrowly wide. They did however raise the green flag just after the break which set them on their way to a famous win.

SCORERS – St Columba's: D McGivney (0-5, four frees), A McElligott (1-0), J Matthews (0-2), D McElligott (0-1). Abbeylara: R Smyth (0-5, three frees), J Kelly (free), CP Smyth, N Rabbitt 0-1 each.

ST COLUMBA'S: P Rogers; S Cadam, P Fox, J Mooney; C Brady, S Mulligan, D McElligott; R McElligott (C McElligott, 39 mins), A McElligott; J Keegan, J McGivney, D McGivney; J Matthews, G Rogers, R Brady.

ABBEYLARA: D O'Connor; B Smyth, F Battrim, C Brady; C P Smyth (K Smyth 55 mins), M McHugh, C Smyth (E Gallagher 41); J Kelly (A O'Connor 55 mins), R Brady; N Rabbitt (P Berry 54 mins), W Crawford, J McEntire (B Smyth 39 mins); R Smyth, C Berry, C E Smyth.

Referee: Patrick Maguire (Granard).