Leinster Club FC semi-final: Last month's 10 to 1 odds on Portlaoise to win the Leinster club football championship is looking like a clever wager right now.
Yesterday, they exposed a lame Kilmacud Crokes, who were missing several quality players through injury and defection, with two phases of blitz-scoring in each half to book their final spot against Meath champions Skyrne in a fortnight.
It became a bit of a cake-walk largely due to the failure of Kilmacud's intercounty and senior players to perform, while Portlaoise's established and rising stars combined in perfect symmetry, none more so than the game's two outstanding contributors, Colm Parkinson and Ian Fitzpatrick.
Unfortunately, Fitzpatrick is unavailable for the Leinster final as he will be on his honeymoon.
Club captain Parkinson - considering his off-field problems of late - was a revelation. Constantly showing for ball, not even Crokes' best defender, Paul Griffin, could get to grips with his twisting and turning when moved on to him late on.
Parkinson now has the task of leading Portlaoise to a first Leinster title since 1988. Their manager, Tommy Conroy, was playing when the club last reached that peak.
"It is a long time, yes," he said. "I suppose going through the seventies and eighties we would be in Leinster finals on a reasonably regular basis. We won five and lost two or three more, so it was a more regular occurrence. We've had lean years where we haven't had as good teams, but they have shown great commitment this year."
Trailing 0-5 to 0-2 five minutes before the break, the livewire Parkinson twice picked out Fitzpatrick with pinpoint accuracy for scores that began to turn the early tide. Fitzpatrick kicked two more in this period, despite the close attentions of Colm Flanagan, to leave the Laois men leading 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
Of their young brigade, minor graduates Peter McNulty and Craig Rogers excelled. The former kicked five points over the hour, two from play.
Early in the second half Niall Corkery reduced the deficit, but manager Conroy had the luxury of springing Kevin Fitzpatrick from the bench as scores from McNulty and an excellent, long-rang effort from Parkinson sounded the death-knell for the Dublin club.
The hole left in midfield by Darren Magee's exodus abroad during the week hurt their challenge badly, while injuries to Ray Cosgrove and Mark Davoren weakened the attacking options.
Nevertheless, they still had reams of talent on the field, though that was not evident to the 3,000-odd crowd who witnessed their drab performance.
Their intercounty mainstays who were available were way off the required standard. Jonny Magee has been carrying an injury for a number of weeks, while Fermanagh's Liam McBarron has had a long and eventful year on the national scene. Both were shadows of their normal selves.
Mark Vaughan has been tipped by many to progress to the senior Dublin shirt in the near future, but despite one magnificent point yesterday he too was off the pace. He also showed another side to his game by receiving a straight red card for striking Craig Rogers from behind in the final, anti-climactic minutes.
Cosgrove and Martin Delaney also received yellow cards for their roles in the fracas.
But all this did was strengthened Portlaoise's resolve. They defended in numbers right to the finish, while McNulty and Fitzpatrick continued to widen the deficit. A late Liam Óg hEineacháin score was the only reply Crokes could muster as departing manager Mick Dillon called McBarron, Magee and Mick O'Keeffe ashore before the end.
"On the day they were much better than us," said Dillon. "Our big guys didn't play today. In the Dublin championship our big guys played. It (also) happened to us against St Brigid's last year in the county final. If your big intercounty players don't play you are in trouble. Their intercounty players, Parkinson and Fitzpatrick, were excellent."
PORTLAOISE: M Nolan; T Fitzgerald, C Byrne, E Bland; B Mulligan, C Healy, A Fennelly; M Delaney, E Coleman (0-1); B McCormick, P McNulty (0-5, 3f), C Rogers; C Parkinson (0-2), I Fitzpatrick (0-4), B Fitzgerald (0-1, 1f). Subs: K Fitzpatrick (0-1) for B Fitzgerald (41 mins).
KILMACUD CROKES: D Nelligan; F Kennedy, C Flanagan, P Griffin (0-1); C Kelleher, L Óg hEineacháin (0-2), B McGrath; J Magee, C Murphy; D Kelleher (0-1), N Corkery (0-1), L McBarron; M Vaughan (0-1), M O'Keeffe (0-1), F Armstrong (0-1). Subs: R Cosgrove for M O'Keeffe (43 mins), N McGrath for L McBarron (50 mins), K O'Carroll for J Magee (54 mins).
Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).
