AIB Leinster Club SFC: Kelly stars as Athy reach Croke Park final

​​AIB Leinster club senior football championship semi-final

Athy 0-19 Portarlington 0-11

By Paul Keane at Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge

Back in 2011, when a young Athy team contested their last AIB Leinster club SFC semi-final, they probably presumed there'd be plenty more big days out.

They lost that game to Garrycastle of Westmeath, had no Leinster championship to enter when they next won a county title in 2020, due to the pandemic, and ultimately took 14 years to get back to a provincial semi-final and win one.

Athy captain David Hyland, just 17 in 2011, and current Kildare captain Kevin Feely, both started that game against Garrycastle and are still digging deep for their club, helping them to secure a glamour final clash with Ballyboden St Enda's at Croke Park next Saturday.

Hyland boomed over two glorious two-pointers in the first-half here as the hosts ran up a whopping 13-point half-time lead.

Another veteran performer, county man Niall Kelly, was the real hero in cool conditions at the home of Kildare GAA, blasting a brilliant 10 points and turning in one of his best displays in an Athy shirt.

There was another big performance too from former Tyrone and London defender Cathal McCarron who stood at the centre of an utterly miserly defence.

The only downside to the day from an Athy perspective was the leg muscle injuries picked up by Kildare wing-back James McGrath and rising star full-forward Colm Moran, both of whom will be assessed throughout the coming week.

Fresh off big wins over Baltinglass and Summerhill, after ending Naas' drive for five within Kildare, Athy did most of the damage early on and hit the interval with a 0-15 to 0-2 lead.

And while Portarlington sniped three second-half two-pointers in a game heavily influenced by the strong wind, the 2021 and 2022 semi-finalists never looked like reeling Athy in.

Skipper Hyland's first two-pointer was a sumptuous spinner kick off the outside of his right boot beyond the 45 metre line and after scoring a second in the 19th minute he punched the air in celebration.

Kelly grabbed their other two-pointer and helped himself to seven first-half points in total as Athy turned the screw, getting plenty of joy from their powerful press on the Port' kick-out.

But it wasn't just Athy's accuracy and efficiency that stood out in a one-sided first-half. They put their bodies on the line time and again, all around the field. As good as Hyland was pushing forward from the middle third, he also popped up in defence a couple of times with crucial interventions.

Full-back Michael Spillane had a terrific duel with Port' dangerman Darragh Galvin too. And while Kelly was Athy's scorer in chief, his most impressive contribution may have been his head-first dive into a couple of players to flick the ball out for Leaving Cert student Ronan Kelly to chip over Athy's 14th point.

Those were the lengths that Athy were prepared to go to and Portarlington were entirely overwhelmed.

In a contest like that, the 17-times Laois champions needed to take every opportunity that came their way. But they got nothing from two first-half 45s, going short into the wind with both and wincing as the moves petered out. When they were thrown a 24th minute lifeline in the form of a penalty for a foul on Paddy O'Sullivan, Colm Murphy's weak kick was easily blocked.

Jake Foster, one of four players commuting back and forth from Australia to play for Portarlington, came on at half-time to beef up their attack.

He had an immediate impact, splitting the posts with a lovely left-footed kick, their first point from play. Apparently inspired, Murphy followed up with a two-pointer from a free shortly after, cutting the deficit back to 10 points.

Port' lost midfielder Sean Byrne to a black card in the 38th minute. They still outscored Athy by a point in the 10 minute period that he was off, 0-04 to 0-03, but needed more scores than that.

Athy led by nine points with as many minutes remaining and were relatively comfortable in the closing stages, coughing up another two-pointer but, crucially, denying Portarlington a goal.

Portarlington defender O'Sullivan was issued with a straight red card in virtually the last action of the game.

Athy scorers: Niall Kelly 0-10 (1 tp, 0-4f), David Hyland 0-4 (2 tp), Sean Moore 0-1 (45), Conor Doyle 0-1, Ronan Kelly 0-1, Kevin Feely 0-1, Mark Hyland 0-1.

Portarlington scorers: Colm Murphy 0-8 (3 tpf, 0-2f), Jake Foster 0-1, Rioghan Murphy 0-1, Darragh Slevin 0-1.

Athy: James Roycroft; Michael Spillane, Padraic Spillane, Darren Lawler; Brian Maher, Cathal McCarron, Sean Moore; Kevin Feely, Conor Doyle; Barry Kelly, David Hyland, James McGrath; Ronan Kelly, Colm Moran, Niall Kelly.

Subs: Mark Hyland for McGrath 19, Ben Purcell for Barry Kelly 48, Sean Bride for Maher 55, Kieran Farrell for Moran 63, Conor Kelly for Ronan Kelly 65.

Portarlington: Luke O'Reilly; Alex Mohan, Robbie Pigott, Curtis Lyons; Mikey Bennett, Jason Moore, Patrick O'Sullivan; Keith Bracken, Sean Byrne; Rioghan Murphy, Ronan Coffey, Darragh Slevin; Jordan Fitzpatrick, Darragh Galvin, Colm Murphy.

Subs: Diarmuid Bennett for Pigott 22, Jake Foster for Lyons h/t, Tom Corcoran for Fitzpatrick 51, Eoin McCann for Bracken 54.

Referee: Andrew Smith (Meath).