Portlaoise prove no match for Portarlington as they make it four Laois SFC titles in five years

Portarlington have made it four Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football titles in five years as they over-powered Portlaoise in Sunday's County Final.

Pat Roe's side took full control of the contest in the second-half with Portlaoise having no answer for the Portarlington full-forward line of Jake Foster, Rioghan Murphy, Darragh Galvin and man of the match Colm Murphy.

Portarlington 3-13

Portlaoise 0-13

Portlaoise kicked into The Town end for the first 30 minutes and a had a score on the board within 50 seconds. Colin McEvoy kicked in a ball to Kieran Lillis, who marked it and slotted it between the posts. DJ White won the resulting kick-out and played a one-two with Kevin Swayne before splitting the posts off his left foot. Portarlington's first score came from Jake Foster as he fisted the ball over Conor Brown's crossbar. Portlaoise had a great chance for goal but Luke O'Reilly got down well to save Conor Raggett's effort. Darragh Galvin levelled the sides with a point from play.

Rioghan Murphy had goal on his mind shortly after but his attempted pass to Galvin just went by his fist and wide. White kicked a second score, this time the ball going over off the inside of the post. Colm Murphy was causing the Portlaoise defence problems as he was fouled for a free which he scored himself. Colm Murphy then forced a great save from Portlaoise keeper Conor Brown. The resulting 45' was kicked short with Foster getting his second point of the contest.

Paul Cahillane's free after 13 minutes drew the sides level at four points apiece. Portarlington got the next two points courtesy of a Foster free after Colm Murphy was fouled before the latter also raised a white flag from a placed ball. White was a danger everytime the ball was in his hands as he curled over a beautiful score from the right-hand side. Rioghan Murphy played Foster in on goal but his shot went high and over the bar off his weaker right boot. White popped up with a fourth point for Aidan Fennelly's side.

Foster like White was causing havoc for Portlaoise's defenders and he showed great skill to breach the Portlaoise goal. He ran at Conor Raggett before jinking left and right to smash the ball into Brown's net. Lillis was fouled for Portlaoise's seventh point with Josh Hogan opening his tally for the contest. Colm Murphy and Hogan traded scores before Damon Larkin cut the gap to two points as the game approached half-time. Colm Murphy pointed a free before the end of the half to give Portarlington a three-point lead, 1-9 to 0-9.

Foster pushed the Portarlington advantage to four point after a great pass from Colm Murphy. Portlaoise kicked over the next two scores courtesy of Benny Carroll and Cahillane after Robbie Pigott's free had been blocked by Lillis. Portarlington showed their true champion spirit to score 1-3 without reply. Colm Murphy pointed from play and from a free while Foster took his tally to 1-6. The second Portarlington goal saw Darragh Galvin palm the ball into an empty net after Colm Murphy had squared him the ball.

Portlaoise replied with points from Hogan (free) and White (free) but in the middle of all that Benny Carroll was shown a black card for a deliberate pull-down. The goals never came for Portlaoise with Portarlington getting in for a third goal late on as Colm Murphy rounded off a superb performance as he smashed the ball past Conor Brown. 

Portarlington will go on to represent Laois in the Leinster Club Championship where they'll be at home to the Wicklow champions in Laois Hire O'Moore Park on Sunday, November 3 at 2.30pm.