Portlaoise's dominance of the Laois SFC continued yesterday at O'Moore Park when they captured a record fifth title in succession at the expense of Graiguecullen.

Portlaoise 1-12
Graiguecullen 1-6

Graiguecullen, who were bidding for their first title in 46 years, looked to be in with a chance of causing an upset when they trailed by the minimum - 0-3 to 0-4 - at half-time after playing against the wind. But the county town side turned the screw in the second half and had seven different players on the scoresheet, including Aussie Rules star Zach Tuohy. They could even afford to miss a penalty in the 20th minute when Paul Cahillane's effort was brilliantly saved by Graigue' goalkeeper Patrick Scully.

Portlaoise had opened up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead before two late points from Chris Hurley and Ambrose Doran left the challengers just a point adrift at the break.

But that was as good as it got for Paul Bealin's side who were outscored by 0-5 to 0-1 in the opening 12 minutes of the second period before Portlaoise captain Craig Rogers scored the opening goal to make it an eight-point game.

The result was never in doubt after that with Mick Hand's late goal proving to be a mere consolation score for the Carlow-border outfit.

PORTLAOISE: M Nolan; A Kelly, C Healy, B Mulligan; C Boyle, T Fitzgerald, K Fitzpatrick (0-1); H Coghlan, K Lillis; B Glynn (0-1), C Parkinson (0-1), Z Tuohy (0-2); P Cahillane (0-5), B Fitzgerald (0-2), C Rogers (1-0). Subs: M McNulty for T Fitzgerald, E Bland for B Mulligan, S Nerney for A Kelly, I Fitzgerald for C Rogers.

GRAIGUECULLEN: P Scully; T Haughney, M Timmons (0-1), S Aylsbury; C Hurley (0-1), R Alcock, L Murphy; M Hand (1-1), B Maguire; J Bolton, I Fleming (0-1), S O'Neill; B Brennan (0-1), D Hayden, A Doran (0-1). Subs: Kevin Smith for R Alcock, Brian McDermott for C Hurley, Mark Doogue for M Timmons, Colm Doran for D Hayden, Danny Aylsbury for J Bolton.

Referee: D Murphy (Portarlington). Tweet

Most Read Stories