Laois SFC Final

Portarlington 2-13 O'Dempseys 0-8

By Steven Miller at MW Hire O'Moore Park

Portarlington have claimed the Laois SFC title for the third year in a row following an 11-point win over neighbours O’Dempsey’s.

It's the first time since 1923 that they have achieved such a feat.

For the third season running, Port saved their best performance of the campaign for the final. And they have achieved such a run of success by completely overwhelming Graiguecullen, Portlaoise and now O'Dempsey's in a county final.

Port played with the wind in the first half and in a frantic opening quarter they slowly but surely made their dominance count.

There had been rarely a county final quite build up like it, so rarely had such close rivals and neighbours done battle on the biggest day of all in Laois.

While the wet and windy conditions didn't help, O'Dempsey's could make no real headway against the brilliant Port defence.

Colm Murphy had been held scoreless in the semi-final against Portlaoise, a rare occurrence, but he hit the ground running here, putting his side into a lead early on after being fouled himself.

He'd go on to score four points in the first half while his brother David, starting his first game of this championship, was outstanding, landing two wonderful points from play in an imperious display.

Adam Ryan was also in a different class, kicking three from play. Jake Foster, Scott Osborne ('45) and Ronan Coffey - on for the injured Stephen O'Neill - hit brilliant points too.

For O'Dempsey's, they pulled a rabbit from the hat by throwing Conor Meredith in for his first start of the year, and though he did point brilliantly in the sixth minute, O'Dempsey's struggled to get shots away, even if they got up the field on plenty of occasions.

Mark Barry pointed a mark in the 10th minute but it was to be their last score of the half.

Port hit nine without reply and by half time there was ten points between the sides, 0-12 to 0-2.

O'Dempsey's had the wind at their backs in the second half, but they'd a huge lot of ground to make up. And they were playing against an exceptional side at the top of their game.

Mark Barry did get the first two points of the second half, both frees after fouls on Conor Meredith, but the game was properly ended as a contest in the 38th minute when Rioghan Murphy cracked home a lovely goal after an O'Dempsey's kickout went wrong.

And things went from bad to worse two minutes later when Robbie Kehoe got red-carded after lashing out at Jason Moore.

David Murphy and Matthew Finlay (free) swapped points before Colm Murphy fired home a second Port goal in the 48th minute.

Port even finished with 14 men, following the black carding of Ronan Coffey, but the result was never in doubt and O'Dempsey's bad day was made even worse when Scott Osborne excellently saved a Mark Barry penalty.

A Leinster club campaign, with the Wexford champions away first, begins in two weeks time.

Scorers for Portarlington: Colm Murphy 1-4 (0-2 frees), Adam Ryan 0-3, Rioghan Murphy 1-0, David Murphy 0-3, Scott Osborne 0-1 ('45), Jake Foster 0-1, Ronan Coffey 0-1.

Scorers for O'Dempsey's: Mark Barry 0-4 (two frees, one mark), Matthew Finlay 0-3 (one '45, one free), Conor Meredith 0-1.

PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osborne; Cathal Bennett, Robbie Pigott, Alex Mohan; Stuart Mulpeter, Jason Moore, Paddy O'Sullivan; Keith Bracken, Sean Byrne; Adam Ryan, Stephen O'Neill, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, Colm Murphy, David Murphy.

Subs: Ronan Coffey for O'Neill (injured - 22), Diarmuid Bennett for O'Sullivan (48), Darragh Galvin for D Murphy (injured - 51), Jordan Fitzpatrick for Ryan (56), Eoin McCann for Foster (57).

O'DEMPSEY'S: Eugene Nolan; Cormac O'Hora, Robbie Kehoe, Johnny Kelly; Jack Lennon, Stephen Lennon, Shane Nerney; Barry Howlin, Brian Nugent; Fionn Holland, Barry Kelly, Conor Meredith; Matthew Finlay, Mark Barry, Micheal Finlay.

Subs: Eoin Finlay for Michael Finlay (40), Daithi Howlin for B Howlin (40), Keith Kavanagh for Nugent (44), Ben Coen for Meredith (50), Eoghan Fitzpatrick for Holland (50).

REFEREE: Des Cooney (St Joseph's).