Leinster Club FC Final/Portlaoise 1-11 Skryne 2-4: It was a bit early in the day to be hearing a full rendition of the Portlaoise Queen, except it was a fitting tune with which to finish the Leinster club football championship.
After raising the winning trophy for a record sixth time in the club's history, Portlaoise captain Colm Parkinson reminded those still in attendance that "17 years was too long a wait" and promptly introduced the ballad, song by the uncle of midfielder Kevin Fitzpatrick. Parkinson's performance on the field was enough for one day.
Yesterday's victory proves beyond doubt Portlaoise are again the best club in the province. They'd beaten highly-rated teams from Offaly and Dublin to get this far, yet possibly saved their best until last. The had undone the Meath champions Skryne long before half-time.
In the end the final scoreline was hugely deceptive. Two goals inside the last quarter spared some of Skryne's blushes, but they'll know they were comprehensively beaten. That Portlaoise managed 12 scores to their six is a little more telling and yet doesn't reflect the crushing defeat inflicted upon Skryne.
In fairness to Skryne, their problems began even before the throw-in. Midfielder and former county stalwart John McDermott had come down with a virus during the week, and announced on Saturday afternoon he was out. That left a gaping hole in the team, and more specifically broke McDermott's crucial link with Trevor Giles.
Portlaoise could argue they too were without forward Ian Fitzgerald, who is on honeymoon, though in truth the Laois champions had more than enough depth to compensate. Wing forward Brian McCormack hit fresh heights yesterday, striking four sublime points and earning the man-of-the-match award.
Fitzpatrick was typically robust and influential at midfield, with Martin Delaney, Peter McNulty, and of course Parkinson also a constant thorn in the side of the Skryne defenders. At the other end Colm Byrne led a rock-solid Portlaoise defence.
When Skryne so unexpectedly closed it down to a three-point game in the closing moments, McCormack soloed the ball from inside his own half and finished with the cushioning point. That summed up Portlaoise - always holding a little more in reserve.
For manager Tommy Conroy, yesterday's prize helps glorify a previous honour. Conroy was centre back on the Portlaoise team that last won the Leinster title in 1987.
"You'd always prefer to be in the thick of it," he said afterwards, "where you can make something happen. But if you have to be somewhere else then you'd want to be manager, where you're still close enough to the team to have a good input."
Conroy knows he has a team that can challenge for All-Ireland honours, a task which begins in two months' time against Crossmaglen: "That's a long way away," he added, "but they are the past masters, so we'll know exactly how tough it will be. But we played some super football there today, and the work rate of the forwards was phenomenal. I know losing John McDermott was a massive blow for them, and they did struggle in the first half. But still they came back at us hard like all Meath teams do."
When player-manager Mick O'Dowd hit the opening score on five minutes, Skyrne looked to have settled first. How wrong that proved to be. Portlaoise responded with eight unanswered points that included gems from Delaney and Parkinson, who was proving impossible to mark. By half-time Skryne were as good as dead, down 0-8 to 0-1.
Giles helped to ignite a desperation-like response after the break, but on 37 minutes another Parkinson-McCormack-Delaney combination resulted in the Portlaoise goal. That left them 1-9 to 0-3 in the clear, and the fat lady was clearing her throat.
Still, when O'Dowd was fouled in the area on 47 minutes Giles duly converted the penalty, and 10 minutes later substitute Ken O'Connell finished a Giles sideline into the net. That created a flame of hope for Skryne, but McCormack soon extinguished it.
"We were just swamped in the first half," admitted Skryne selector Ray Mooney, "because they were coming right through from their half-back line. I suppose John McDermott would have helped prevent some of that had he been able to play, but Portlaoise were really very good. We're still proud of our second-half performance."
Parkinson admitted afterwards that winning the Laois title wasn't enough to satisfy this team. They wanted to win in Leinster too. With typical gusto he added only winning an All-Ireland would satisfy them now. Right now there is no reason to doubt him.
PORTLAOISE: M Nolan; T Fitzgerald, C Byrne, E Bland; B Mulligan, C Healy, A Fennelly; K Fitzpatrick (0-1, a free), E Coleman; B McCormack (0-4), P McNulty (0-3, two frees), C Rogers; M Delaney (1-1), C Parkinson (0-2), M Fennelly. Subs: T Mulligan for B Mulligan (61 mins).
SKRYNE: F O'Rourke; D Rogan, D Donnelly, A Curry; M Mulvaney, J Quinn, N Hamill; T Giles (1-1), B Smith; J Gibbobs, K Mulvaney (0-1), P O'Donnell (0-1); A Carty, M O'Dowd (0-1), J Jordan. Subs: A Tuite for Gibbons (43 mins), K O'Connell (1-0) for Carty (47 mins), B Byrne for Mulvaney (53 mins).
Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).
