Ballyroan-Abbey defeat Portlaoise to set up St Joseph's clash

Ballyroan Abbey’s quest for three in-a-row U-20 ‘A’ football titles remains alive following their dramatic late victory over Portlaoise in the semi-final on Saturday. Portlaoise led for the majority of the match, but Ballyroan Abbey battled back late on in Annanough.

A brace of goals from midfielder Davin McEvoy swung the tide dramatically back in Ballyroan Abbey’s favour and saw them leave Portlaoise shell-shocked. Ballyroan Abbey now face St Joseph’s in the final after they came through an extra-time battle of their own against Graiguecullen.

Ballyroan Abbey 3-10

Portlaoise 1-9

Portlaoise started brightly on a wet Saturday day in Annanough. They came into the clash with a real edge and were very physical with Ballyroan Abbey throughout, which yielded some strong results.

Michael Culleton cracked over the opening point of this semi-final for ‘The Town’. The same man doubled Portlaoise’s lead a minute later, as a swift counter-attacking move saw Culleton crash over his team’s second score.

Ballyroan Abbey were a little slow to get motoring but they eventually settled into the affair. Shaun Fitzpatrick fired over their first point of proceedings before Cormac Byrne levelled the contest, although the goal chance was on as well.

Portlaoise had a sniff at goal themselves soon after but the final handpass let them down on this occasion. Nevertheless, ‘The Town’ did get it right in the tenth minute to get the game’s opening goal.

Centre-back Ben Dempsey drove a ball inside from deep. Michael Culleton had scored their opening few points but this time Culleton turned provider for League of Ireland soccer star Colin Conroy to crash home the goal.

Killian Byrne responded for Ballyroan Abbey with a point but Portlaoise were playing with confidence now and added the next two scores. DJ White placed over a free before Culleton kicked his third point of the half.

Ballyroan Abbey were never going to let Portlaoise get too far ahead though and hit back with the next two on the trot themselves. Davin McEvoy’s influence on the match was growing, as the midfielder spun around to launch over his first point.

Then Padraig Rafter picked off another for Ballyroan Abbey to leave just two points between the teams. Portlaoise extended their lead back to a goal though after midfielder Ben Reddin went through the middle and floated over.

Portlaoise had another excellent goal chance after that which they failed to convert. Colin Conroy found DJ White inside but his shot came off the post and Culleton couldn’t finish home the rebound from close-range either.

Davin McEvoy dropped over a point from a free for Ballyroan Abbey which proved the final score in an intriguing half of football. Portlaoise led 1-5 to 0-6 at half-time, but Ballyroan Abbey would have been fairly confident they could turn this one around in the second-half.

Ballyroan Abbey wasted no time in cutting into the deficit some more upon the resumption. Some nice passing resulted in Darren Mulhall blazing a shot just over the crossbar for a point.

Ben McDonald was introduced at the break for Ballyroan Abbey and he almost made an immediate impact. However, McDonald saw his shot superbly saved by Portlaoise goalkeeper Cian O’Gorman.

Ballyroan Abbey levelled proceedings when Conor McWey cracked over a point from close-range in the thirty-eighth minute. The lads wearing blue and black would not score for the next thirteen minutes though, as Portlaoise regained control of this contest.

Josh Hogan landed Portlaoise’s first score of the half from a placed ball. Then Conor Brown, who played in goal for their Senior this season but started this one at wing-forward, floated over two more wonderful points from frees.

The pressure was on Ballyroan Abbey now but they showed their experience and class to come through in the end. Odhran Delaney delivered a long ball into the Portlaoise square and it was broken down for Davin McEvoy inside to finish into the top corner.

Ben McDonald put Ballyroan Abbey into the lead for the first time in the match and they continued to finish strong from here. Referee Brendan McCann awarded them a penalty when substitute Lawson Obular was tripped in the square, with Davin McEvoy coolly dispatching from the spot.

Eli Quinn, another Ballyroan Abbey substitute, added another point to push them further clear. While Josh Hogan hit over a free for Portlaoise, it was Ballyroan Abbey who finished in style when Lawson Obular scored their third goal.