Seven Talking Points as Portarlington defeat Ballyfin to set up SFC final with Graiguecullen

Portarlington reached their first Laois SFC final since 2001 by defeating Ballyfin in O’Moore Park last night.

Martin Murphy’s charges are now just one game away from ending an almost two decade drought and below, we will take a look at how the game unfolded:

1 – Man of the Match – Colm Murphy 

Like last night, there are a couple of contenders for this and unsurprising – they all come from the victors.

Diarmuid Bennett, Alex Mohan and Cathal Bennett were very solid in the full back line while Jason Moore ahead of them kicked a fine part and tackled tenaciously.

Ronan Coffey’s kick passing is a joy to watch while after a quiet first half, Rioghan Murphy showed just how good he is by dominating the ball in the second.

But the battle is between the two Murphy brothers – Colm and David – with the former just shading it thanks to his expertly taken goal.

2 – Portarlington’s strength and depth 

We’ve said it before, but the amount of supremely talented players at Martin Murphy’s disposal is simply scary.

They won last night without injured county man Paddy O’Sullivan while the likes of Colin Slevin, Jordan Fitzpatrick, Eoin McCann and Stephen O’Neill had to be content with appearances from the bench.

Stalwart Johnny Fulham didn’t see a minute while neither did Laois U-20s Daragh Galvin or Sean Michael Corcoran.

Training must be serious.

3 – Perfecting the art of defending 

Portarlington lost their first game of 2021 heavily to Portlaoise and since then, they have barely conceded anything.

Courtwood managed ten points against them in Round 2 of the league while O’Dempsey’s only got four in Round 3. And in the semi final, St Joseph’s could only muster seven points.

Ballyfin only scored 1-2 last night and didn’t score at all after the 17th minute of the game. A lot of that was down to their set up, which we will come to, but as much was due to Portarlington’s ability to defend both individually and collectively.

Cathal Bennett, Diarmuid Bennett and Alex Mohan are all comfortable in one-on-one situations and you rarely see any of them getting caught out.

But the forwards, midfield and half back line work incredible hard out of possession too which ensures their opponents are always under pressure when passing and shooting. An under-rated but absolutely crucial trait to have.

4 – Ballyfin’s set up and struggles 

Ballyfin came to O’Moore Park with a simple plan. Ricky Quillinan and Sean Moore would stay up the field while Nick Cosgrove, who started at corner forward, dropped back as a sweeper.

And when they lost possession, all players, bar the first two mentioned above, would work very hard to get back behind the ball and try to block up spaces and prevent scores.

This worked for about 20 minutes but when Portarlington managed to figure that out and got ahead – Ballyfin didn’t change what they were doing and the outcome of the game was sealed then.

Ballyfin could counter that argument by saying that if they opened up and went more offensive, the floodgates may open at the other end and they could have lost by an even greater margin.

5 – Rematch just around the corner 

That was the first ever meeting of Ballyfin and Portarlington at senior championship level – and they won’t have to wait long for a rematch.

They have been drawn together in the first round of this year’s competition which is set to get underway in the first week of September.

Ballyfin look set to be without James Finn too for that game as he received a straight red card for an incident involving Sean Byrne in the second half.

6 – Return of fans welcome 

It has been great to see a decent crowd back in O’Moore Park for the two semi finals.

Both games attracted a sell-out of 500 and the scramble will already be on to seal a ticket for next weekend’s decider.

7 – What’s next?

More than a year after it got underway, the 2020 Laois SFC will finally conclude on Sunday next.

Both Portarlington and Graiguecullen are aiming to win their 13th title and the exact time will be revealed on Monday.

SEE ALSO – Murphy brothers on song as Portarlington see off Ballyfin to reach first SFC final since 2001

The post Seven Talking Points as Portarlington defeat Ballyfin to set up SFC final with Graiguecullen appeared first on Laois Today.

source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/08/08/seven-talking-points-as-portarlington-defeat-ballyfin-to-set-up-sfc-final-with-graiguecullen/