Vintage Kelly leads Athy past Portarlington and into Leinster final 

Kelly, a Tailteann Cup winner earlier this year with Kildare, blasted six of his 10 points from play, including a terrific two-pointer, to secure a return to Croke Park next Saturday.

CROKER-BOUND: Athy goalkeeper James Roycroft celebrates after his side's victory in the AIB Leinster GAA Football Senior Club Championship semi-final match between Athy and Portarlington at Cedral St Conleth's Park in Newbridge, Kildare. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

Leinster Club SFC semi-final: Newbridge Athy (Kildare) 0-19 Portarlington (Laois) 0-11

Veteran Niall Kelly gave one of his greatest displays in an Athy jersey, blasting 10 points to power his club through to a first ever Leinster football final.

Kelly, a Tailteann Cup winner earlier this year with Kildare, blasted six of his points from play, including a terrific two-pointer, to secure a return to Croke Park next Saturday.

The step up against Ballyboden St Enda's will be significant but Athy can fancy their chances after another commanding display.

Fresh off big wins over Baltinglass and Summerhill, after ending Naas' drive for five within Kildare, Athy did the damage early on this time and were 13 points clear at half-time.

And while Portarlington sniped three second-half two-pointers in a game heavily influenced by the strong wind, the 2021 and 2022 semi-finalists never looked like smashing through their glass ceiling and reaching the final.

GLORY DAYS: Barry Kelly of Athy celebrates with his cousin Freddie Salmon, age 3, after the AIB Leinster GAA Football Senior Club Championship semi-final match between Athy and Portarlington at Cedral St Conleth's Park in Newbridge, Kildare. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

Captain David Hyland had a huge game too, lording it in in the middle third and chipping in with two two-point scores while former Tyrone star Cathal McCarron manned an utterly miserly defence.

Athy must have felt that the game was almost wrapped up at half-time when they held a whopping 0-15 to 0-02 lead.

They played with the stiff wind initially and took full advantage, sniping three two-pointers.

Skipper Hyland nailed two of them, the first a sumptuous spinner kick off the outside of his right boot beyond the 45 metre line and the second celebrated with a raised fist.

Kelly grabbed the other long-range point and helped himself to seven first-half points in total as Athy turned the screw, getting plenty of joy from their powerful press on the Port' kick-out.

But it wasn't just Athy's accuracy and efficiency that stood out in a one-sided first-half. They put their bodies on the line time and again, all around the field. As good as Hyland was pushing forward from the middle third, he also popped up in defence a couple of times with crucial interventions.

Full-back Michael Spillane had a terrific duel with Port' dangerman Darragh Galvin too. And while Kelly was Athy's scorer in chief, his most impressive contribution may have been his head-first dive into a couple of players to flick the ball out for Leaving Cert student Ronan Kelly to chip over Athy's 14th point.

Those were the lengths that Athy were prepared to go to and Portarlington were entirely overwhelmed.

In a contest like that, the 17-times Laois champions needed to take every opportunity that came their way. But they got nothing from two first-half 45s, going short into the wind with both and wincing as the moves petered out. When they were thrown a 24th minute lifeline in the form of a penalty for a foul on Paddy O'Sullivan, Colm Murphy's weak kick was easily blocked.

Jake Foster, one of four players commuting back and forth from Australia to play for Portarlington, came on at half-time to beef up their attack.

He had an immediate impact, splitting the posts with a lovely left-footed kick, their first point from play. Apparently inspired, Murphy followed up with a two-pointer from a free shortly after, cutting the deficit back to 10 points.

Port' lost midfielder Sean Byrne to a black card in the 38th minute. They still outscored Athy by a point in the 10 minute period that he was off, 0-04 to 0-03, but needed more scores than that.

Athy led by nine points with as many minutes remaining and were comfortable in the closing stages, coughing up another two-pointer but, crucially, denying Portarlington a goal.

Portarlington defender O'Sullivan was issued with a straight red card in virtually the last action of the game.

Athy scorers: Niall Kelly 0-10 (1 tp, 0-4f), David Hyland 0-4 (2 tp), Sean Moore 0-1 (45), Conor Doyle 0-1, Ronan Kelly 0-1, Kevin Feely 0-1, Mark Hyland 0-1.

Portarlington scorers: Colm Murphy 0-8 (3 tpf, 0-2f), Jake Foster 0-1, Rioghan Murphy 0-1, Darragh Slevin 0-1.

Athy: James Roycroft; Michael Spillane, Padraic Spillane, Darren Lawler; Brian Maher, Cathal McCarron, Sean Moore; Kevin Feely, Conor Doyle; Barry Kelly, David Hyland, James McGrath; Ronan Kelly, Colm Moran, Niall Kelly.

Subs: Mark Hyland for McGrath 19, Ben Purcell for Barry Kelly 48, Sean Bride for Maher 55, Kieran Farrell for Moran 63, Conor Kelly for Ronan Kelly 65.

Portarlington: Luke O'Reilly; Alex Mohan, Robbie Pigott, Curtis Lyons; Mikey Bennett, Jason Moore, Patrick O'Sullivan; Keith Bracken, Sean Byrne; Rioghan Murphy, Ronan Coffey, Darragh Slevin; Jordan Fitzpatrick, Darragh Galvin, Colm Murphy.

Subs: Diarmuid Bennett for Pigott 22, Jake Foster for Lyons h/t, Tom Corcoran for Fitzpatrick 51, Eoin McCann for Bracken 54.

Referee: Andrew Smith (Meath).