County champions Portarlington dethroned as St Joseph’s tee up county final date with Portlaoise

Portarlington’s reign as Laois Senior Football champions is over after St Joseph’s got the better of Anthony Cunningham’s men with a superb team performance from back to front in Laois Hire O’Moore Park this afternoon.

St Joseph’s never gave Portarlington a minute on the ball as their work rate and intensity was immense throughout. The whole St Joseph’s defence nullified Portarlington’s biggest threats and never gave them any opportunity to get into the game.

St Joseph’s 1-12

Portarlington 0-10

Portarlington began on the front foot and should have had an early goal only for the feet of Aaron Cooney who denied Jake Foster a certain goal. St Joseph’s broke upfield and kicked the game’s first score as Brian Daly raised a white flag after two minutes.

Another goal chance went a begging for the county champions as Jordan Fitzpatrick fired wide when put through on goals. St Joseph’s yet again ran the ball through the lines as James Kelly scored a beautiful outside of the boot point to give them a two-point advantage after seven minutes.

With eight minutes on the clock, Portarlington got off the mark with a free from Colm Murphy. They levelled the game from the resulting kick-out as a short ball out from Cooney found Darragh Galvin who teed up Foster to take his tally to two points.

St Joseph’s fired over the next three scores as Eoghan O’Flaherty (free), Cormac Murphy and Michael Keogh all raised white flags as Portarlington were hitting wide after wide. Foster pointed another free for Portarlington before St Joseph’s rattled the back of the net with a superb team move.

Dylan Doyle bore down on goals and made no mistake in dispatching the ball past Scott Osbourne after 22 minutes. The score remained the same for the rest of the half as St Joseph’s led by five points at the break, 1-5 to 0-3.

Portarlington knew they needed a quick start at the beginning of the half and they duly obliged as Foster slotted over a free while Rioghan Murphy scored from play. O’Flaherty (free) and Daly from play saw St Joseph’s into a five-point advantage. Murphy pointed his second of the contest. St Joseph’s hit the front with three scores without reply. Kelly found Daly inside and he turned his man before raising a white flag. Having been the provider for last score, Kelly drilled the ball over the bar when it could have been a goal. Daly took his tally to four for the contest as he got another superb point.

Foster kept  Portarlington ticking over with frees but they knew that goals would be needed to get back into the game. Michael Keogh got a score for St Joseph’s as they led by six points with Portarlington’s four-in-a-row looking like it was slipping from their grasp.

St Joseph’s were forced to play the game with 14 men for the last few minutes as Gearoid Lynch was shown a black card. Murphy kicked two more scores for Portarlington while Keogh fisted the ball over the bar to put a gloss on the scoreline.

That defeat ends Portarlington’s 18-match winning streak having won the last three county titles. St Joseph’s will face Portlaoise in two weeks time for the Senior Football title.