Rosenallis fire in five goals to do the double over Portlaoise

Rosenallis came out on the right side of an eight-goal thriller in Rossleighan Park on Saturday afternoon, picking up a valuable three points against Portlaoise. It is the second time Rosenallis have put a big score on Portlaoise this season, having won 6-1 in The Grove back in December.

The visitors came into the game a point ahead of Portlaoise, with both sides looking to pick up enough points at the tail end of the season to hold off Monksland and Stradbally in the relegation battle.

Rosenallis 5

Portlaoise 3  

Rosenallis took the lead after just three minutes when Adam Finlay played a glorious through-ball to Conor Conroy, who ran in behind the Portlaoise defence before finishing beautifully into the bottom far corner.

Portlaoise regrouped well and looked the better team for the next ten minutes, almost equalising through Elson Simao, who turned his shot just wide. They began to pile on the pressure with Jake Comerford drawing a great save out of Rosenallis goalkeeper, Paddy Dunne.

Kacper Horoszko should have scored on the half-hour mark when he found himself one-on-one with Dunne. But he almost had too much time, eventually skewing his shot wide of the target. 

That proved to be the turning point as Rosenallis doubled the lead in the 36th minute against the run of play. Brian Fitzpatrick turned the ball home from close range after Conroy played a dangerous ball across the face of goal.

And just two minutes later it was 3-0. Fitzpatrick was brought down inside the area and Charlie Friel stepped up, wrong-footing Jack Pedro with a powerful strike.

Unbelievably the scoring was not over from Rosenallis. Some good work down the left from Friel saw him get the ball into the box where the arriving Conor Conroy smashed home his second.

And it was 5-0 a minute before half time when Adam Finlay produced a moment of individual magic, striking the ball from 30 yards, over the head of Pedro and into the net.

The home side, to their credit, remained switched on after the restart and looked the better team for the first 15 minutes. They were rewarded after an hour when Davis Pedro finished a good move with a tidy finish beyond Dunne.

Portlaoise continued to press and almost had a second goal moments later, but Dunne stood tall and denied Horoszko from the edge of the box. They went close again midway through the half when Rian Mitchell, who had a good game in midfield, saw his shot from 30 yards kiss the top of the crossbar. Horoszko also sent his shot just over the bar ten minutes from time, but he was in a good position inside the box and should have tested Dunne.

The hosts did pull one back late on thanks to a great finish from the edge of the area from full back, Ronan Corr. And just two minutes later they were awarded a penalty when Jake Comerford was dragged down in the box. Comerford stepped up and took the responsibility himself, wrong-footing Dunne with a fine penalty.

That brought the curtain down on an entertaining encounter, that was a real tale of two halves.