Portlaoise cruise into the last four

Portlaoise (Laois) 3-15 St Patrick’s (Wicklow) 0-4

The Portlaoise men had this result wrapped up by half time when they led by 2-6 to no score.

Wing back Conor Boyle was one of the standout players in a star-studded Laois outfield; landing the opening point inside 30 seconds and then rifling home the game’s opening goal after a quarter of an hour.

Full-forward Brian McCormack chipped a lovely goal to the net on 25 minutes after home defenders twice spilled possession on the edge of the small square.

Trailing by 12 points, St Patrick’s restarted the second half with their first point by Austin O’Malley before Tommy Kelly rattled the crossbar with a rasping effort.

That’s as good as it got for the Wicklow champions, who were hit with a third Portlaoise goal by Eoghan Whelan in the 52nd minute.

Scorers for Portlaoise: C Boyle (1-2), B McCormack (1-2), B Fitzgerald (0-4, two frees), E Whelan (1-0), P Cahillane (0-2), B Glynn (0-2), A Kelly (0-1), C Rogers (0-1), S Nerney (0-1).

Scorers for St. Patrick’s: A O’Malley (0-3), M Byrne (0-1 free).

PORTLAOISE: M. Nolan, T. Fitzgerald, B. Mulligan, C. Healy, K. Fitzpatrick, K. Lillis, C. Boyle, A. Kelly, H. Coughlan, C. Rogers, B. Fitzgerald, B. Glynn, P. Cahillane, B. McCormack, B. Smith.

Subs: E. Whelan for B. Smith, B. Gaynor for C. Rogers, J. Delaney for T. Fitzgerald, L. McGovern for H. Coughlan, S. Nerney for C. Boyle.

ST PATRICK’S: c. Byrne, S. Murley, P. Higgins, R. Connolly, P. McWalter, C. Doyle, D. Healy, D. McEvoy, R. Murphy, M. Byrne, P. Earls, T. Kelly, D. Fitzgerald, A. O’Malley, D. O’Sullivan.

Subs: S. Duffy for D. Fitzgerald, N. Kennedy for R. Murphy, A. Jameson for C. Doyle, S. Alexander for C. Byrne, M. Donoghue for D. O’Sullivan.

Referee: D. Gough, Meath.