Gaelic Games

Laois SFC final: Portarlington turn on the style to claim fourth title in five years with win over Portlaoise

Triumph completes remarkable turnaround for side relegated from Division 1 earlier in the season

Portarlington started slowly but rallied to beat Portlaoise in the Laois SFC final. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Sun Oct 13 2024 - 19:59
Laois SFC final: Portarlington 3-13 Portlaoise 0-13

Portarlington are the Laois senior football champions for the fourth time in five years after they turned on the style in O’Moore Park on Sunday afternoon.

This success completes a remarkable turnaround for a Portarlington side who were relegated from Division 1 of the league earlier in the season and started this campaign without nine starters from the side that last won the Laois championship in 2022.

But in recent weeks they have welcomed home three players from their travels. Colm Murphy was one of them and after coming on as a sub in the semi-final, he made his first start of the year in this one. And he delivered in spades, finishing as the man of the match and as joint top scorer.

The other two returnees – Paddy O’Sullivan and Robbie Piggott – came on in the second half and played a vital role also in the club’s latest success.

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The first half was played at a blistering pace with Portlaoise getting the first three scores, one from DJ White and the other a mark from Kieran Lillis after a spectacular fetch.

But Portarlington grew into the game and Foster, Colm Murphy, Rioghan Murphy and Darragh Galvin were to the fore.

After the sides had traded scores early on, by the 16th minute Portarlington had edged 0-6 to 0-4 ahead. The excellent White, playing in his first county final, pointed either side of another Jake Foster point but Port then struck for the game’s first goal when Foster buried an effort past Conor Brown.

Josh Hogan got two points and Damon Larkin got one for Portlaoise but Colm Murphy got two in response and at half-time, Portarlington led by 1-9 to 0-9.

Port remained ahead throughout the second half and a Darragh Galvin goal in the 47th minute finished the game as a contest, before Murphy rounded off the win with a third late on.

PORTARLINGTON: L O’Reilly; A Mohan, C Bennett, M Bennett; G Weldon, J Moore, J Fitzpatrick; K Bracken, E McCann; R Murphy, R Coffey, D Slevin; C Murphy (1-6, 0-4f), D Galvin (1-1), J Foster (1-6, 0-1f). Subs: P O’Sullivan for Fitzpatrick (HT), R Pigott for McCann (35), C Slevin for Weldon (48), SM Corcoran for Galvin (55), C Lyons for M Bennett (60).

PORTLAOISE: C Brown; B Dempsey, B Reddin, C Raggett; C McEvoy, E Maloney, C Finn; D Larkin (0-1), D Seale; J Hogan (0-3, 2f), B Carroll (0-1), K Swayne; P Cahillane (0-2, 1f), K Lillis (0-1, m), DJ White (0-5, 1f). Subs: C Dunphy for Larkin (42, inj), R Maher for Finn (48), G Dillon for Cahillane (51).

Referee: B Hickey (Graiguecullen).