Portarlington and Courtwood have it all to do again in Laois

The sides will face off again in a fortnight. 

STILL STANDING: Niall Donoher of Courtwood is tackled by Mikey Bennett of Portarlington at Laois Hire O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Laois. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Portarlington 1-15 Courtwood 2-12 

No verdict in Laois on Sunday afternoon where Portarlington failed to make it five senior football titles in six years and Courtwood’s wait for a first ever title was likewise put on the back burner.

They go again in the replay in a fortnight.

The cliché goes that the underdogs have more to lose from this state of affairs given favourites rarely leave the door open a second time around, but there was no denying that it was Courtwood who were more pleased with parity.

This was confirmation that they can thrive at this rarified level after years of winning underage titles with Emo under the banner of St Paul's and the first-time finalists did so much right in the first quarter.

They dominated the Portarlington kickout, utterly swamping the holders in their own half as a result, and they looked to discommode them even more by attacking at pace. When it worked it really worked.

Their first score came directly from pressure put on a short kickout. The goal scored by Paul O’Flynn after 13 minutes arose from the same source after Ryan Little’s initial attempt had smacked back off the bar.

The problem was that too much of what Courtwood did was rushed and they paid for it. They had 14 shots on goal in the first 21 minutes but only scored from three of them as attempts fell short and wide in quick succession.

Their lead was just 1-3 to 0-2 at the turn into the second quarter and then things turned on their head with ‘Port’ scoring 1-6 against the concession of just a single point from there to the break for a three-point lead.

Robbie Piggott made some sensational interventions from full-back, one of them a flying block on Alan Kinsella as the attacker took time to settle and look for the net. Midfielder Sean Byrne thieved O’Flynn’s pocket in similar fashion just before half-time.

If that suggests a backs-against-the-walls effort by the champions then it was anything but with Patrick O’Sullivan driving them forward from half-back, Rioghan Murphy getting to grips with the midfield and Jake Foster lively as lightning up front.

The Port revival had already started by the time Jake Doyle was shown a black card for a silly off-the-ball block on O’Sullivan and it gathered pace when Foster found the net after corner-back Adam O’Halloran dropped a long ball into his lap.

The question at the break was whether Courtwood’s chance had already come and gone.

Turns out It hadn’t.

Port had stretched the lead to four inside the next ten minutes and, with Courtwood again down to 14 men following a second black card, the game was falling into something of a lull until Byron trotted up from between his posts to nail a pair of two-pointers.

Now it was level after almost half-an-hour of Portarlington having their noses in front nd, while the favourites pulled three points clear again soon after, Courtwood just wouldn’t accept being shrugged off on their biggest day.

Kinsella chose the 57th-minute to claim his first point and then followed it up within 60 seconds to slip through and fire a goal high top the net to give the first-time finalists a one-point lead with the hour-mark about to come.

The drama was only starting. The last score came from a free by Courtwood substitute Dylan Keane and the referee finally called time after minutes added on with Portarlington screaming for a free on Colm Murphy.

Scorers for Portarlington: C Murphy (0-5, two 2-ptrs); J Foster (1-2); P O’Sullivan (0-3); R Coffey (0-2); D Galvin, R Murphy and J Fitzpatrick (all 0-1).

Scorers for Courtwood: M Byron (0-5, two 2-pt frees); A Kinsella (1-1); P O’Flynn (1-0); R Little (0-2); S O’Flynn, M O’Halloran and C Doyle (all 0-1); D Keane (0-1f).

Portarlington: L O’Reilly; M Bennett, R Piggott, C Lyons; A Mohan, J Moore, P O’Sullivan; K Bracken, S Byrne; D Slevin, R Coffey, R Murphy; C Murphy, D Galvin, J Foster.

Subs for Portarlington: E McCann for Bracken (46-52); J Fitzpatrick for Slevin (47).

Courtwood: M Byron; D McEvoy, D Boland, A O’Halloran; Jake Doyle, R Flynn, E Slattery; S O’Flynn, R Tyrrell; N Dunne, C Doyle, P O’Flynn; N Donoher, R Little, A Kinsella.

Subs for Courtwood: M O’Halloran for McEvoy (HT); D Keane for Jake Doyle (48); M Doyle for P O’Flynn (55).

Referee: S Mulhare (The Heath).