Castletown overcome Portlaoise to reach Junior ‘B’ Football decider

Castletown GAA Club have another final to look forward to after their Junior ‘B’ footballers defeated Portlaoise by eight points in Wednesday evening’s semi-final at the LOETB Centre of Excellence.

The club’s three hurling teams are going well too, with the Junior ‘B’ hurlers set to play Kyle in the final on Thursday evening. The Junior ‘A’ hurlers will face Park-Ratheniska/Timahoe on Friday, September 18, while their first team are through to the Premier Intermediate semi-finals, where they will play Colt-Shanahoe on Saturday, September 19.

Castletown’s Laois senior hurler Martin Phelan opened the scoring after three minutes. Portlaoise’s first attack almost resulted in a goal, but Matthew Peters tipped Oran Masterson’s effort onto the crossbar. Cian Fitzpatrick then levelled the game for Portlaoise.

The first half remained evenly contested, with the next six scores shared between the sides. Phelan added two more points for Castletown, while his Laois teammate Ryan Mullaney also opened his account. Portlaoise’s three scores came from Jamie Gorman (2) and Fitzpatrick.

Castletown somehow failed to find the net when Mullaney’s effort looked destined to result in a goal, before Kyron Cuddy put them back in front. He played a free short to Tom Og Phelan, received possession back and split the posts.

From the resulting kick-out, Martin Phelan added his fourth point of the half. He was then denied a goal by Portlaoise goalkeeper Conor Dunne, before Castletown were penalised for breaching the three-up rule, allowing Jamie Gorman to reduce their lead from a free.

Castletown extended their advantage to four points before half-time when Cuddy won possession deep in the Portlaoise defence and found Ryan Mullaney, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net.

Aaron Gaughan added his first point shortly afterwards. Shane Smyth then scored a two-point free and Ryan Tully also raised a white flag for Portlaoise before the break as Castletown led 1-7 to 0-8 at half-time.

Mullaney came out strongly after the restart, scoring the first two points of the second half to restore Castletown’s four-point advantage. Gorman responded with a point for The Town, but Castletown immediately had an answer as Daniel Whelan restored their four-point lead.

Portlaoise then took control for a spell and levelled the game with four points in succession. Gorman and Smyth both scored frees, while Jack Reddin added two points. Martin Phelan and Smyth, from another free, exchanged scores before Castletown began to pull clear.

The winners finished strongly, scoring 1-5 in the final 15 minutes. Aaron Gaughan registered his second point of the evening before Mullaney converted three frees in succession to put Castletown four points ahead approaching the hour mark.

Cuddy added Castletown’s final point before Jack Breen put the seal on victory with the last kick of the game, firing the ball to the net to send his side into the final.

They will face Portarlington in the decider after they defeated Graiguecullen in the other semi-final.

FINAL SCORE

Castletown 2-16

Portlaoise 0-14

SCORERS– Castletown: Ryan Mullaney 1-6 (0-3 frees), Martin Phelan 0-5, Jack Breen 1-0, Aaron Gaughan and Kyron Cuddy 0-2 each, Dan Whelan 0-1. Portlaoise: Shane Smyth (one two-point free, 0-2 frees) and Jamie Gorman (0-1 frees) 0-4 each, Cian Fitzpatrick 0-3 (0-1 free), Jack Reddin 0-2, Ryan Tully 0-1.

CASTLETOWN: Matthew Peters; Callum Peters, John Gaughan, Evan Cuddy; Jack Breen, Tadhg Cuddy, Daniel Whelan; Tom Og Phelan, Shane Phelan; Martin Phelan, Ryan Mullaney, Conor Phelan; Kyron Cuddy, Joseph Phelan, Aaron Gaughan. Subs: James Mullaney for Peters (39 mins), Billy Kerry for J Mullaney (48 mins).

PORTLAOISE: Conor Dunne; Robby Brophy, David Whelan, Ryan Scully; Danny Rooney, Conor Ging, Aindle MacGearailt; Rory Tully, Shane Smyth; Paddy Reddin, Oran Masterson, Josh Finn; Aidan Fitzpatrick, Cian Fitzpatrick, Jamie Gorman. Subs: Jack Reddin for C Fitzpatrick (24 mins, inj), Conor Stack for Finn and Eoin Carey for MacGearailt (Both 39 mins), Dara Ramsbottom for Rooney (51 mins), Eoin Feeney for Masterson (54 mins, inj).

Referee: Padraig Whelan (Barrowhouse)