Port make it three in a row as they defeat O’Dempseys in the Laois Senior Football Final

The Laois Shopping Centre Senior Final took place on a wet and cold Sunday afternoon in O’Moore Park. Fierce rivals and neighbours Portarlington and O’Dempsey’s would battle it out. It would be the first time that the two sides met in the Laois Senior football final since 1963. The prize at stake was the Jack Delaney cup and more importantly huge bragging rights in the area for the foreseeable future. Even as the rain poured heavily down there was no dampening the atmosphere pre-game. It promised to be a momentous day regardless of the result.

Portarlington had two early wides but eventually got off the mark. A short-range free from Colm Murphy put them a point up. It wasn’t long before O’Dempseys responded though with a point from late change Conor Meridith.

Adam Ryan, who missed the semi-final through injury, restored Portarlingtons lead. On the 10-minute marker, Mark Barry got himself a tidy mark and converted to level the scores once again. Colm Murphy then put Port back in front with his second free of the afternoon.

Portarlington 2-13

O'Dempsey's 0-08 

After 15 minutes both teams were handling the conditions well. It was Portarlington though who were slightly more efficient at getting the ball into the dangerous areas and they led their neighbours by two points. The county champions kicked on with two more points in quick concession, courtesy of Jake Foster and David Murphy.

A heavy tackle by Conor Meridith on centre forward Stephen O’Neil left the port man in a heap on the ground. He was replaced by Ronan Coffey. Soon after Adam Ryan extended the Portarlington lead to five points.

Two more points from Colm Murphy and one Adam Ryan put the county champions up by 8 with two minutes to in the half. Even though Portarlington did have a strong wind behind them, the challenge that the Killinard men had in front of them grew and grew as we approached half-time.

As the teams went in for the briefing at half-time. The current county champions were going in as much the happier side. They held a 10-point lead at halftime. Wing Back Paddy O Sullivan was having a super game. Constantly working hard, made some vital interceptions and was starting many of Portarlingtons attacks. Adam Ryan was also hugely influential in the opening half. He had already notched three cracking scores.

 After putting it up to Portarlington's early doors, the game was getting away from O’Dempseys. They had not scored since Mark Barry converted a mark after 10 minutes. It had been a long 20 minutes for the Killinard men.

Half Time score Portarlington 0-12 O’Dempseys 0-02

Barry opened the scoring for the second half and in doing so pulled one back for O’Dempseys. He would go on to get the second score of the half as well, a short-range free which reduced the margin back to 8.

Portarlington stung back though and this time with Venom. Rioghan Murphy who was having a quiet game burst through the O’Dempsey defence received a lovely layoff from his namesake Colm and rattled the back of Nolan's net.

Things went from bad to worse for O’Dempseys when Robbie Kehoe was sent off for a slap on Jason Moore. As David Murphy slotted over his third score, the game as a contest looked to be over still with twenty minutes left of play.  

Hatch Finlay finally got off the mark for O’Dempseys which meant the gap between the teams was a considerable 11 points as we entered the final fifteen minutes. At this stage, the Killinard men were looking very defeated and Portarlington breezed through their defence once more, at the end of it was Colm Murphy who buried the ball into the net for Port’s second goal.

Tempers were beginning to rise and a few hard shoulders and handbags began to break out. With 5 minutes left on the clock, Substitute Ben Coen was dragged down in the Portarlington box and a penalty was awarded. However, Scott Osborne pulled off a marvellous much to the delight of the Portarlington crowd.

As the additional time of one minute was announced, Hatch Finlay got his third of the afternoon. Portarlington held possession and the whistle of Des Cooney concluded the 2022 senior final football final. From a long way out the result of this game was only going one way. The mighty Portarlington made it three Laois Senior Football championships in a row. A fantastic achievement for a team that hadn’t looked challenging at all during Portaloise’s reign. Portarlington had to fight hard on more than one occasion this year, but the tough battles stood to them and in the end, they ran out easy winners of Sunday's finale. ‘

On the day there were several standout performers for the champions. Colm Murphy had a fantastic game finishing with a tally of 1-4. Paddy O’Sullivan was incredible from wing back while David Murphy and Adam Ryan also put in huge performances. Another massive day for Martin Murphy and his management team. They will be hoping their team goes well in Leinster having lost out to eventual champions Kilmacud Crokes narrowly 12 months ago.

O’Dempseys will be very disappointed with their performance on the day. It wasn’t the same O’Dempseys team that had been so impressive all year. Maybe it was the occasion or the weather conditions but after ten minutes of play, the game completely got away from them.

It's Portarlington who are now the three in a row Laois Senior Football Champions.