Portlaoise 3-13 Ballylinan 0-10
Portlaoise were crowned Laois senior football champions for the 33rd time thanks to a 12-point win over Ballylinan in O’Moore Park.
Having been denied a 10th title in a row by Stradbally in dramatic circumstances last year, there was to be no upset this time around as Portlaoise recovered from a poor start to run out comfortable winners.
Ballylinan, appearing in their first final since 1987 and looking for a first title, played some fine football in the opening half and were 0-05 to 0-02 up at the end of the first quarter. Laois player and captain Gary Walsh was on fire early on, scoring their first four points in an impressive showing.
But Portlaoise got a foothold in the game when Scott Lawless got in for their first goal and got ahead when man of the match Paul Cahillane finished brilliantly after a fine pass from Brian McCormack, Portlaoise’s long-serving forward who was claiming his 13th Laois SFC medal.
Ballylinan recovered from that double blow with a couple of nice points but Portlaoise were 2-06 to 0-07 up at the break.
Portlaoise pulled clear in the second half with a string of fine points and sub John Kavanagh put the icing on the cake late on with their third goal.
SCORERS: Portlaoise: P Cahillane 1-6 (0-4 frees), S Lawless 1-1, J Kavanagh 1-0, C Boyle 0-2, C McEvoy 0-1, B McCormack 0-1, A Kelly 0-1, B Carroll 0-1 Ballylinan: G Walsh 0-7 (0-5 frees), A Farrell 0-1, A McEvoy 0-1, C Dunne 0-1
PORTLAOISE: Graham Brody; Frank Flanagan, Kieran Lillis, David Holland; Conor Dunphy, B Mulligan, Chris Finn; A Kelly, C McEvoy; B Carroll, C Boyle, G Dillon; Brian McCormack, P Cahillane, S Lawless.
Subs: D Seale for Dunphy (23), B Smyth for Lawless (45), S Smyth for Kelly (55), D Cullen for McEvoy (58), J Kavanagh for McCormack (58), P Downey for Mulligan (58)
BALLYLINAN: A Walsh; C Leonard, D Leonard, K Byrne; A Farrell, R Ryan, J Redmond; J Farrell, P McEvoy; S Lacey, C Farrell, L Kealy; C Dunne, G Walsh, A McEvoy.
Subs: R Donoher for Kealy (ht), C Behan for D Leonard (35), E Kenna for Redmond (49), J Kealy for Lacey (53), C Fennessy for A McEvoy (57).
Referee: John Flynn (The Rock).
