'We haven’t met a challenge quite like theirs'- Pat Roe on Courtwood threat ahead of County Final

Pat Roe, in his second year as manager of the Portarlington Senior Football team, is preparing for his second County Final. 

While his side came through a hard-fought semi-final against Graiguecullen, Roe admits he hasn’t been entirely satisfied with their performances so far this season.

“I suppose from our point of view, look, we're glad to be in the county final obviously. We've been a bit inconsistent, really. At times it's been a grind, we were unimpressive against The Heath in the first round and then lost to Graigue. We had a good performance against Killeen in the quarter-final, and then just such a scrappy game last Sunday, we weren't happy with our performance. But look, here we are, we're back in the county final despite all that,” Roe said.

This year’s County Final will also be the first played under the new rules. Roe feels the changes have been good for football, though they come with added physical demands.

“It's a challenge, it's a different game, it's quite a nutritional game, I think. We talk about 20-man football and it really is, in terms of the new rules, you really need to have a deep panel. That's been a real test. My own personal view is that the new rules have been very good for football. If you look at the scorelines in Laois this year, there's been a lot of goals scored and a lot of high-tempo play. They do bring physical challenges, and despite all that, it's been good for football,” Roe added.

A greater sense of stability has also marked Portarlington’s campaign this year, with many of the players who were overseas in 2024 being available for the majority of the 2025 championship, except for Sean Byrne and Jake Foster, who returned in the quarter-final and semi-final stages, respectively.

“I think that's a valid point. It brings its own issues; you're trying to blend players as they're coming back into the fold. That presents its own challenges in terms of trying to get the right blend of players between lads who have been here from the start and as the players from overseas come back, as I said, blending them into the team has been challenging, but it's also good, of course, to have players of that quality back,” Roe said.

Portarlington will face Courtwood in the County Final, the club’s first-ever appearance at this stage. Roe says they will present a challenge unlike any his team has faced on the way to the final.

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“They’ll bring a huge pace, obviously. They've got fantastic goal-scoring ability. They're there on merit, there's no doubt about that. They were narrowly beaten by Ballyroan-Abbey in Round Two. Then they beat O’Dempsey's, Portlaoise and St Joseph's, proven championship teams. They're there on merit. It's a huge challenge for us. We haven't met a challenge quite like theirs. They have pace and power all over the team and a really good defensive set-up, very hard to break down,” Roe commented.

He also provided an update on the injury situation ahead of the final.

“We have Alex Mohan, who got injured a number of weeks ago. He's coming back to training, but he really is touch-and-go. Paddy O'Sullivan is nursing an injury. He hasn't trained since Sunday, and neither has Sean Byrne. We'll know more over the weekend about their availability, so we have a few things we're concerned about, but I'm sure it's the same for both teams. Obviously, after a tough semi-final, there are always bumps and bruises, and two weeks is a narrow enough window to get everything right. So, as I said, a few bumps and bruises, a few concerns, but we'll see how that pans out over the week,” Roe ended.

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