Hungry Portarlington keen to take another step towards Leinster glory

Coming off a hard battle against Castletown two weeks ago, Portarlington faces into their second outing in Leinster this weekend when they face Carlow champions Palatine. 

The two sides are well-matched and have very similar attributes, particularly in their attacking style of play. It promises to be an open high scoring affair. 

Portarlington is strong going forward. And press very high. As shown by Portlaoise in the Laois Semi-final and Castletown in the opening round of Leinster, they can be caught out by a team that put 13/14 men behind the ball and break at speed but they work hard and usually find a way to dig themselves out of them sort of scenarios.

They have two workhorses that are very important to them. Wing forward Rioghan Murphy and Wing Back Paddy O Sullivan. These two players do most of the donkey work for the team. They track back, are very good at interceptions, and pick up the
loose balls and break then at pace and are usually the ones providing the pass for the dangerous forwards.

The two dangerous men that can rack up scores are Colm Murphy and Adam Ryan. Murphy is without a doubt Portarlington's most dangerous forward. He caused havoc against Castletown and notched himself 0-6. Adam Ryan who was man of the match in the county final is in his last year playing for Portarlington as he moved to Sligo. 

Similar to Portarlington, Palatine also has two key forwards that they tend to rely on. Shane O'Neil plays center forward for the Carlow champions. He was the top scorer in the championship scoring a very respectable 26 points. The real dangerous man though is Conor Crowley. The Carlow senior footballer's positioning is top class and he is a fantastic reader of the game. 

Their wingbacks Killian Duff and Ciaran Moran are very attacking-minded. They spend large portions of games in the opponent's half and this can potentially leave the defense vulnerable. This is one area that Martin Murphy and his coaching team will be looking to exploit. 

Overall it will be a fascinating contest but it's hard to imagine this one being a tight game. Given the attacking nature of both teams, it is likely that one team will be more on it and will have a larger portion of the momentum. It is more likely to fall in that regard into Portarlington's favour. The even money that the bookies are offering on Portarlington minus 3 points looks tasty. 

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