Potarlington bow out of Leinster after heavy defeat at the hands of Crokes

Portarlington’s arrival at Croke park represented a chance at redemption. Standing between them and a Leinster final appearance were the current favourites for the All-Ireland Club title Kilmacud Crokes. The two sides produced a hard-fought battle 12 months ago with Crokes edging it late on. Cian O’Connor’s 45th-minute goal proved crucial on that occasion.

Crokes dominated the opening couple of minutes, but Portarlington struck first blood. A well took free from Colm Murphy. Port was then dealt an early blow as Andrew McGowan danced through the defence and finished to the back of the net. Shane Walsh would then get his first to give Crokes an early three-point lead.

Kilmacud Crokes 1-12

Portarlington 0-4

The Portarlington defence was holding up well over the next ten minutes, and Diarmuid Bennett was playing particularly well at full-back. We then got a glimpse of what Walsh can do all day long, He was out in front of Bennet and caught a lovely mark down low before converting. Dara Mullen put the Dublin champs 5 points up with only a quarter of the game elapsed.

Captain Shane Cunningham and Dara Mullen stretched the lead further with two more points, Colm Murphy’s early Free was still Port’s only score at this stage and Rioghan Murphy’s wide just after this was about as close as Portarlington came to moving the scoreboard for the second time in the opening 25 minutes.

Finally, a short-range free from Murphy gave Portarlington their second score. Crokes Cillian O Shea was then shown a black card for a very poor tackle on Rioghan Murphy. That would be the last event of the first half as Portarlington went in at halftime with a lot of work to do

They had only registered two points in the first half and found themselves six points down. Portarlington could have no complaints as Crokes were by far the better side in that first half despite getting a soft goal. The Crokes midfield was dominating and Dias and Shovlin were on top of their counterparts and winning plenty of kick outs. Portarlington would have to produce a special performance in the second half to get themselves back into the game.

Portarlington came out with intent and held off Crokes with a high press in the early stages. Eventually though with retention of possession and patience, the Dublin Champs found a way through. Walsh would get the opening two scores of the second half both from frees.

The Galway All-star Walsh made way for Tom Fox with around 20 minutes to go and Mullen took over dead ball duties. He converted to leave nine points between the teams with only 15 minutes on the clock. Adam Ryan got Portarlington off the mark for the second half in the 46th minute but at this stage, Portarlington looked dejected and were in large parts chasing shadows.

Daragh Slevin to his credit tried to inject a bit of energy when he came in but to no real avail. He made way for Colin Slevin after only playing around ten minutes, presumably, injury-related. It became more and more evident as the game progressed that Kilmacud had Portarlington sussed. Their ball retention was remarkable and their defensive structure was unbreakable. Paddy O Sullivan came closest but his shot on goal was saved by Ferris.

Jason Moore was given a black card before the goalscorer from 12 months ago Cian O Connor tapped over his first. Points from Substitutes Pauraic Purcell and Brian Sheehy would widen the gap to eleven deep into injury time.

That would be the last of the action as Portarlington bowed out under disappointing circumstances. Port wasn’t really at the races in the end. All credit to Kilmacud Crokes they had Ports number for minute one. They retained possession, worked extremely hard off the ball and worked scores very patiently. While it wasn’t pretty to watch, it got the job done impressively.