'You don’t have to be a blind person to see what happened'- Portarlington's Pat Roe after drawn final

Portarlington manager Pat Roe admitted to a mixture of pride and frustration after his side were held to a draw by Courtwood in the Laois SFC decider on Sunday. The reigning champions, chasing their fifth title in six years, will now have to do it all again in two weeks’ time. 

“I suppose when you get a draw, you're both disappointed and happy. I'm disappointed in some aspects of the game that I won't discuss. I'll have a look at it and see. Frees throughout, to be honest. I can't say too much,” Roe said.

As defending champions, Portarlington entered the game knowing they would have to reach a higher level to see off a spirited Courtwood side. Roe felt that while his team showed their quality in spells, their inconsistency proved costly.

“You have to be, you have to be significantly better. For periods, we were, but we weren't consistent enough. When we were in the ascendancy, we didn't punish them enough. At the end of the first half, having gotten off the hook in the first ten minutes, we got on top, and we just didn't punish them enough at the end of the first half. Same, we were three points up in the second half. We should have been able to push on and we weren't able to,” Roe said.

Before the final, Roe had spoken about the need for a full 60-minute performance from his side. While Sunday’s display showed signs of progress, he admitted that Portarlington still haven’t found their full rhythm.

“I think so. We're not consistent in the level. When we're good, we're very good. We're just not consistently good enough. We started very sluggishly. Again, we went out of it in the second half. Look, I think there were circumstances that, as I said, I'm not going to elude to now,” Roe said.

There was also late controversy when Rioghan Murphy appeared to be fouled. Roe didn’t hold back when asked if he felt his team would have been awarded a free had they been trailing rather than level.

“You don't have to be a blind person to see what happened there, as far as I'm concerned, there were two or three frees,” Roe said.

Roe also expressed frustration at the number of frees conceded to Courtwood goalkeeper Matthew Byron, who kicked five points, two two-point frees, to keep his side in touch.

“You don't think we're idiots, do you? You don't think we'd give away frees that easily to a man who can do that? I'm angry now, so I'm just going to throttle back a small bit. I'm just disappointed, I'm disappointed in certain aspects of the game,” Roe said.

Despite the frustration, the Portarlington boss praised his players for their character and resilience, even if defensive lapses gave Courtwood too many goal chances.

“No, they did. That's why they're champions. There's no end to their heart and grit and guts, but we gave Courtwood their goals. They scored two, and they could have had two or three more. That's something we'll have to look at,” he added.

Roe reserved special praise for Robbie Pigott, who produced a vital block to deny Alan Kinsella a near-certain goal, while also acknowledging Byron’s accuracy for Courtwood.

“Yeah, he did. Robbie was top class. Again, when we were on top, we didn't do enough to put daylight between ourselves and Courtwood. We were able to give them oxygen and keep them in the game. I make no bones about it. The goalie kept them in the game as well with his two-point frees. Fair dues to him,” he said.

As for the replay, Roe was quick to move on from the disappointment and focus on the opportunity ahead.

“We'll prepare for that accordingly. We'll have a look at the game during the week. We'll see where we can improve. I'm happy enough with the replay. I'm happy that we're still in it,” Roe ended.

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