Maher stars as four-goal Portlaoise down Graiguecullen and march to Division 1A final

Graiguecullen 0-9 Portlaoise 4-14
ACFL Division 1A Semi-final

Portlaoise booked their place in this year’s Division 1A final after an impressive win over Graiguecullen tonight.

Ricky Maher was on fire as he finished the game with 2-5 as the Town ran out 17 point victors in the end.

They will now play the winners of the other semi final involving Portarlington and St Joseph’s which will be decided on Saturday night.

Portlaoise scored their first goal in the opening ten minutes of the game which they them a platform to go and dominate the remainder of the game.

Their defence was on top throughout with some fine displays from youngsters Josh Hogan and Ben Dempsey in the fullback line. The pair were solid throughput and never gave the Graiguecullen attack any hope of cutting the deficit.

Kieran Lillis and Trevor Collins traded points in the opening minute of the game before Paul Cahillane and Ricky Maher scored two points in quick succession to give the visitors a two point lead.

The goal soon followed when Benny Carroll eased his way through the Graiguecullen defence before laying the ball to John Kavanagh and he stroked it into the back of the net.

Conor Kelly hit back with a brace of frees to leave the scoreline 1-4 to 0-3 at the water break.

Conor Kelly gave Graiguecullen hope of a comeback when he pointed from close range but Kieran Lillis and Ricky Maher replied with points to edge Portlaoise further clear.

Both teams swapped frees via Ricky Maher and Conor Kelly to put five points between the sides at the interval – 1-8 to 0-6.

In the second half, Portlaoise really began to dominate proceedings. They got off to a fantastic start when Paul Cahillane and Ricky Maher combined for the latter to smash the ball into the net.

The Town then began to pull clear of their opponents as substitute Ben Brennan, Maher and Lillis raised white flags with their efforts to leave it 2-11 to 0-7 at the second water break.

DJ White then got in on the action when he was introduced to the game with a brace with just ten minutes remaining.

Portlaoise finished the game off in style as both Paul Cahillane and Ricky Maher rounded off two fantastic individual performances with a goal each.

SCORERS –  Portlaoise: Ricky Maher 2-5 (three frees), Paul Cahillane 1-2, Kieran Lillis 0-4, John Kavanagh 1-0, DJ White 0-2, Ben Brennan 0-1 Graiguecullen: Conor Kelly 0-7 (six frees), Danny Bolger (free) and Trevor Collins 0-1 each

GRAIGUECULLEN: Danny Bolger; Eoin Alsybury, Mark Timmons, Kian Lawlor; Bobby Doyle, Ross Alcock, Martin Doyle; Jamie Sheehan, Danny O’Reilly; Danny Alsybury, Trevor Collins, Paul Mulready; Luke Hand, Chris Hurley, Conor Kelly.

PORTLAOISE: Michael O’Connell; Chris Finn, Ben Dempsey, Josh Hogan; Kevin Swayne, Gareth Dillon, Ben Conroy; Kieran Lillis, Conor Boyle; Damon Larkin, Benny Carroll, John Kavanagh; Jason Maher, Paul Cahillane, Ricky Maher. Subs: Ben Brennan for Carroll (27, inj), DJ White for Jason Maher, Jack O’Connell for Conroy (48)

Referee: Clifford Ward (Portarlington)

SEE ALSO – Laois camogie team named for All-Ireland championship opener against Derry

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