THE LANDSCAPE for the upcoming AIB Leinster club senior football championship got much clearer this afternoon as a host of county finals were played all across the midlands, with Tullamore and Portarlington both picking up silverware in very different fashions.
Portarlington came into this afternoon’s Laois senior final on the back of winning county deciders in 2020, 2021 and 2022 by double-figure margins, and while they didn’t quite get that far, they still were comfortable in their 3-13 to 0-13 win over Portlaoise.
In a high-tempo final, DJ White shot four points from play for Portlaoise in the first half while Jake Foster and Colm Murphy led the charge for Portarlington, who took a 1-9 to 0-9 half-time lead, their goal coming from the boot of Foster.
Foster and Murphy had six white flags each when it was 1-13 to 0-11 midway through the second half, and a palmed goal from Daragh Galvin effectively settled the tie.
Murphy raised a green flag of his own late on to confirm the progression of Pat Roe’s side through the Leinster championship, where they will meet the winners of next Sunday’s Wicklow final between Baltinglass and Tinahely.
Should Portarlington win that, next on the list will be a quarter-final clash with Tullamore, just 25km down the R420.
Tullamore had to push themselves to the pin of their collar to prevail in a very different type of Offaly final however, mounting two second-half comebacks to beat Ferbane by 0-15 to 0-14.
After playing with the wind in the first half, strong showings from Oisín Kelly and Kyle Higgins in midfield, as well as Cathal Flynn at centre forward, were central to Ferbane’s 0-9 to 0-5 lead at the interval.
2021 All-Ireland U-20 winners Cormac Egan and John Furlong were excellent in the second half as Tullamore wiped away that deficit to lead by a point after 45 minutes, while 18-year-old Coláiste Choilm student Cillian Bourke was also incredibly impressive in the middle third.
Still, Ferbane rallied to lead by 0-13 to 0-11 with six minutes to play, only for Tullamore to rattle off another four on the spin, including crucial scores from play from Daire McDaid and substitute Diarmuid Egan.
There were also county finals in Westmeath and Longford, but the happiest men in those counties this evening will be the county board treasurers after the two deciders finished level.
In Mullingar, John Heslin set up Fola Ayorinde for an early St Loman’s goal, but the home town club found themselves behind in the 10th minute when Luke Loughlin produced a powerful finish to beat Jason Daly and nudged the Downs into the lead.
Sam McCartan struck twice for Loman’s as they went into the dressing room one up and that lead was out to three when he scored his third point of a 0-4 tally in the 38th minute, but the Downs quickly rallied — going into the closing stages, it was all level again.
Loughlin made it 1-13 to 1-12 with a free in the second of three minutes of added time, only for Eoghan Hogan to send the game to a replay with the final attack.
Robbie Smyth was Abbeylara’s saviour in Longford when he fired over the point that made it 0-12 to 1-9 against Colmcille, giving Frankie Dolan’s charges another shot at winning a first title in 18 years.
Barry McKeon got the final touch to a Colmcille goal in the 11th minute as Abbeylara failed to deal with Cathal McCabe’s long ball in, and he and his brother Paul soon added points for the 2022 Seán Connolly Cup winners.
Abbeylara didn’t offer a lot of threat up front, with Caolan Lynch their only scorer from play, registering 0-3 – but they were dogged and competitive throughout, drawing level late on before goalkeeper Noel Farrell and Cathal Reilly made it 1-9 to 0-10 going into stoppage time.
Smyth held his nerve to nail two late chances, however, ensuring another day out for both clubs.
Naas, who lost Leinster finals to Kilmacud Crokes in 2021 and 2023, were also level at the end of 60 minutes in their Kildare semi-final clash with Athy, but they dominated overtime to prevail by 3-13 to 1-9, scoring 2-4 in the second block of ten minutes.
Athy led by one at half-time and would have felt hopeful when just after scoring a goal Kildare county player Alex Beirne received a second yellow card, reducing Naas to 14 with over 10 minutes to play. However despite finding a goal of their own through Seán Moore, the Laois-border club still needed a Liam McGovern free to force extra time.
Darragh Kirwan, who scored 1-6 in total, was the only scorer in the first period of extra-time but he and county hurler James Burke found the net after the last turnaround when Athy simply ran out of legs.
Naas will now play Celbridge in the 2024 Kildare SFC final, in advance of what should be a titanic battle between the Kildare and Dublin champions at the revamped St. Conleth’s Park in the first week of November.