Portlaoise seal county final place with victory over Graiguecullen

Portlaoise have secured their place in this year’s Senior Football final after defeating Graiguecullen in this afternoon’s semi-final.

Kevin Fitzpatrick’s side raced into an early six-point lead and looked the better team all over the field.

Portlaoise 1-15

Graiguecullen 3-6

Portlaoise started the better of two sides as they opened proceedings with a point from a free. Damon Larkin was fouled with Paul Cahillane pointing the resulting free.

They increased their lead almost instantly as Garreth Dillon laid the ball off for Ricky Maher to split the posts. Maher was to the fore again as he put Portlaoise three points up with four minutes played.

Graiguecullen were struggling to cope with Portlaoise’s strong running game as they almost got in for goal with Larkin’s effort beating the goalkeeper but rattling off the post. Benny Carroll showed Larkin how it was done as he rifled the ball into the net to give Portlaoise a six-point lead after seven minutes.

From the very next play, Graiguecullen finally got their names on the scoreboard as Conor Kelly played the ball into Jack Byrne, who made no mistake in drilling the ball past Conor Brown. Portlaoise responded well to goal as Cahillane (free) and Larkin both raised white flags.

Another score followed for Graiguecullen as they got in for their second goal. Lee Walker played the ball across the goal with Aaron Forbes on hand to tap it into an empty net.

The half ended with David Seale and Maher scoring points for Portlaoise. Graiguecullen almost had a third goal late in the half with Mikee Horohan’s effort was saved superbly with his feet from Brown in the Portlaoise net. Portlaoise held a four-point lead 1-7 to 2-0 at the break.

Portlaoise started the second-half with a score straight from the throw-in as Kevin Swayne batted the ball down with Larkin running through to score. Benny Carroll took his tally to 1-1 as he slotted over a score from play.

Graiguecullen finally got a point on the board after 39 minutes as Conor Kelly pointed a free. They soon fired over two more points as Kelly kicked a free with Trevor Collins kicking Graiguecullen’s first point from play to leave three between the sides.

Portlaoise kicked on again with three scores unanswered. Colin McEvoy, Ciaran McEvoy and Kevin Swayne all opened their  accounts with points from play. Kelly and Brian Byrne tagged on two points for Graiguecullen before Jason Maher rounded off a superb team move to fist the  ball over the black spot.

Larkin set up Swayne for next Portlaoise score as Aaron Dargan pointed for Graiguecullen. Kieran Lillis came off the bench to raise a white flag before Mikee Horohan left three between the sides with a minute to play.

Portlaoise hung on in the end to seal their final place in two weeks time.