Graiguecullen and Portarlington to meet again after dramatic draw

Portarlington and Graiguecullen will have to meet again after finishing stalemate in the Laois SFC quarter-final at O'Moore Park today after a dramatic finish.

Portarlington 2 - 11

Graiguecullen 2 - 11

Laois Shopping Centre Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

Portarlington landed the first point of the day through the boot of Laois Senior star Colm Murphy in the opening minute, but Graiguecullen restored parity with a Jamie Parr free minutes later.

Portarlington edged back into the lead with Colin Slevin finding the target, only for Graiguecullen to go up the other end and level them again through Brian Byrne.

The first goal of the game arrived eight minutes in, Jason Moore providing the finish to swing the momentum in Portarlington's favour. Danny Alsybury pulled one back for Graiguecullen from the resulting kick-out, but Portarlington bit back through Stephen O'Neill to leave a goal between the sides.

10 minutes passed before the next score arrived, again going Portarlington's way with Colm Murphy landing a booming score into the Town end of O'Moore Park. Graiguecullen narrowed the gap with goalkeeper Danny Bolger coming forward to convert a free from 45m out.

Points followed from Jake Foster and Jason Moore to stretch the Portarlington lead out to five points with four minutes to go until the break, but Graiguecullen finished the half strongly with 1-2 in the final minutes. Amrbrose Doran striking for goal in the third minute of injury-time to send the sides in level at 1-6 apiece.

Graiguecullen picked up where they left off after the restart with a Jamie Parr free, and then two goals arrived in as many minutes.

Portarlington struck first with Colm Murphy rounding Danny Bolger to finish easily to the Graigue net, and a minute later Graiguecullen annulled Murphy's effort with Ross Hennessy crashing to the roof of the Portarlington net to leave just a point between them.

Portarlington were then dealt a blow as the already yellow-carded Ronan Coffey was flashed a black card and then a red to see them reduced to 14-men.

The final quarter of the game was the definition of tit-for-tat. Graiguecullen would edge ahead by the minimum, and each time Portarlington would bring it back level.

With 52 minutes on the clock Jake Foster brought Portarlington level, only for Ambrose Doran to kick Graiguecullen back into the lead. Foster replied to bring Port level again, and then Graiguecullen goalkeeper Danny Bolger came forward to kick his third point of the game and edge them ahead with three minutes of normal time remaining.

Again, Foster stepped up to level the sides at 2-11 apiece in the second minute of injury-time. There was to be one final twist as Port broke at pace and carried the ball to the Graiguecullen 21m where Paddy O'Sullivan was fouled. Foster shaped up to the familiar position again, but this time couldn't dissect the posts as the game ended stalemate.

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*See Tuesday's Leinster Express Sport for full coverage

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PORTARLINGTON

Scorers: Colm Murphy 1-3, Jake Foster 0-4 (0-3 frees) Jason Moore 1-1, Colin Slevin Sean Byrne and Stephen O’Neill 0-1 each. Team: Scott Osbourne; Dean Foster, Keith Bracken, Alex Mohan; Adam Ryan, Jason Moore, Paddy O'Sullivan; Robbie Piggott, Sean Byrne; Stephen O'Neill, Colm Murphy, Ronan Coffey; Jake Foster, David Murphy, Colin Slevin. Subs: Darragh Galvin for O'Neill (HT), Eoin McCann for Dean Foster (38 mins), Johnny Fulham for Slevin (47 mins), 

GRAIGUECULLEN

Scorers: Ambrose Doran 1-2, Jamie Parr 0-4 (frees), Danny Bolger 0-3 (frees), Ross Hennessy 1-0, Brian Byrne and Danny Alsybury 0-1 each.

Team: Danny Bolger; Shane Alyward, Mark Timmons, Martin Doyle; Luke Alsybury, Trevor Collins, Chris Hurley; Jamie Sheehan, Ross Alcock; Danny Alsybury, Brian Byrne, Jamie Parr; Ross Hennessy, Aaron Forbes, Ambrose Doran. Subs: Michael Hand for Danny Alsybury (43 mins), Ian Fleming for Parr (50 mins), Danny Doogue for Doran (58 mins),

REFEREE: Michael Tarpey (Kilcavan)