Derby delight for Stradbally as they see off fourteen-men Park-Ratheniska

Neighbours Stradbally and Park-Ratheniska met this evening in the Centre of Excellence in Portlaoise. The pair’s first teams had not previously met in a long, long time, so this brought a decent crowd along for this Senior ‘B’ quarter-final.

It was a real back-and-forth contest between the two sides. The pivotal moment occurred when Park-Ratheniska’s centre-back, Colm Brennan, received a red card in the second-half which allowed Stradbally to get on top and edge the result.

Stradbally 0-14

Park-Ratheniska 1-9

The underdogs, Park-Ratheniska, registered the first point of proceedings. Podge Dunne delivered the score, as the men wearing yellow and green settled quickly.

Stradbally soon levelled the score with their first point. Tom Shiel, who had been brought into the starting line-up after coming off the bench previously, set up Conor Buggie for a lovely score. Shiel then slapped over a point himself from a mark and Stradbally were ahead.

While Podge Dunne dropped over a placed ball to deadlock the teams again, Stradbally soon put a run together to take the lead in Portlaoise. Their pace in the forward line caused Park-Ratheniska’s defence serious issues, as Stradbally started to click.

Darragh Carolan, who has been one of the stand-out players for Stradbally this campaign, drove forward from deep before curling one between the posts. Tom Shiel then showed his magic again, as he received the ball and wasted no time in firing over on the half-turn.

Eamonn Delaney then added another for Stradbally to see them go three to the good after the first quarter of action. John Sugrue’s side needed to come to life quickly, even at this stage, or they were in danger of letting this one slip away.

Park-Ratheniska did come extremely close to levelling proceedings again though. Corner-forward Noah Fingleton fired a ball into the experienced Kieran Delaney. However, Delaney’s drilled shot came back off the post and Stradbally dodged a bullet.

Despite that near miss, Park-Ratheniska did prove to narrowly be the better side in the second quarter. They matched Stradbally’s physicality and intensity for the remainder of the half and Park-Ratheniska left just the minimum between the sides at the interval.

Podge Dunne and Tom Shiel swapped points from frees before Park-Ratheniska pointed two in a row before the half-time whistle. Sean Tierney sent over a score from play, as he became the first player other than Dunne to register a score for Park-Ratheniska.

Noah Fingleton then fired over the final score of the half from a free. Park-Ratheniska would have been relatively pleased by only trailing their neighbours 0-5 to 0-6 at this point of the match, with the wind set to favour them in the second-half.

The impressive Tom Shiel started the scoring for the second-half for Stradbally with another excellent point. Park-Ratheniska responded strongly though, as Noah Fingleton floated over a few frees to get them back on level terms in Portlaoise.

That was followed by a couple of crazy minutes for Park-Ratheniska. They went from a high of scoring a goal to take the lead to going down to fourteen men a minute later.

The goal came from wing-forward Jimmy Langton’s pace burning through the heart of the Stradbally defence. Langton set up Cian Nolan inside and he nailed one into the back of the net for Park-Ratheniska.

However, they were brought back down to Earth when their centre-back, Colm Brennan, received a second yellow card to add to his one late in the first half.

Michael Tarpey then flashed a resulting red in Brennan’s direction and Park-Ratheniska would have to play the final twenty minutes with a player less. Shiel punished Park-Ratheniska’s indiscipline further by placing over the resulting free.

Stradbally midfielder Colm Begley cut the deficit to one and then shortly after Shiel levelled it once more from a placed ball. Stradbally looked to have the momentum once more as we headed for the final ten minutes.

It was backs-to-the-wall stuff from Park-Ratheniska now, as Stradbally ran at them and earned frees. Shiel and substitute Colm Kelly pushed Stradbally two ahead from placed balls.

Park-Ratheniska desperately required a score to stop the rot and their main man, Podge Dunne, did have an answer. Dunne landed his fourth point of the day to leave one between the teams.

However, Stradbally controlled the final stages to come away with the victory. Another Shiel point from a free was followed by a big score from Stradbally centre-back Eoin Buggie to see them home.