AIB Leinster Club Semi-Final

KILMACUD CROKES 1-11 PORTARLINGTON 0-12

By Brian Lowry at Croke Park

Kilmacud Crokes are through to a Leinster club senior football final against Naas after they turned the tables on Laois champions Portarlington in the second half on Saturday evening.

Trailing 0-7 to 0-3 at half time after a wasteful opening 30 minutes, the Dublin champions clicked into gear in the second half to edge a tight battle by two points.

Paul Mannion had been well marshalled in the opening period but he came to the fore in the second half with three crucial scores to power his club over the line.

Substitute Cian O’Connor’s goal 13 minutes from time proved the decisive score and it brought them to life as they finished strong to reach the provincial decider.

Dara Mullin kicked the opened the scoring for the Dublin champions but the Laois men made sure to match them pound for pound in the opening stages.

Colm Murphy started the game as you would want him to start it and two points from him inside the opening four minutes left the sides level at 0-2 each early doors.

Both sides were showing their credentials early on but it was the men from Port who worked patiently on 10 minutes for Colm Murphy to tee up David Murphy for the lead score.

Kilmacud Crokes did have a couple of half decent goal chances but at the opening water break, Port held a 0-3 to 0-2 lead.

The Laois men came out after the water break and compounded their advantage in the game. Jake Foster kicked a super point off his weaker right foot before points from Sean Byrne and a exceptional mark from Colm Murphy set them up with an 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 23 minutes.

In truth, the Dubs were rattled and Port continued to press on. Colm Murphy was running amuck in the inside line. He had kicked three points and set up another before he fed Rioghan Murphy to put them 0-7 to 0-2 up after 28 minutes.

Kilmacud got one back through Captain Shane Cunningham before the break but the Laois champions fully deserved their four point lead going into half time.

Sean Byrne kicked a super score from all of 30 metres to extend the Port lead just after half time but Kilmacud were not lying down and two points on the spin from Callum Pearson and Paul Mannion left it 0-8 to 0-5 in favour of Portarlington after 35 minutes.

Kilmacud were well on top, but proving wasteful in front of goal typified by the normally accurate Paul Mannion sending a routine effort wide in the 40th minute.

Shane Cunningham kicked his second of the evening for the Dublin men to bring it back to an 0-8 to 0-7 game, but crucially, just before the second water break, Colm Murphy fed Jake Foster and the Laois GAA player of the year floated over his second point of the evening to leave them two clear with 15 minutes to play.

Portarlington were then rocked when a patient move through the lines from Crokes resulted in substitute Cian Connor finding the net to propel them into the lead at 1-7 to 0-9 after 47 minutes.

The Port response was what you would expect from this great side. Substitute Stephen O'Neill equalised before Adam Ryan fired them back into the lead on 51 minutes as the game entered deep into the melting pot.

With Paul Mannion beginning to get a bit more room as the game went on, he floated over his third point on 54 minutes to put them one ahead before Shane Cunningham landed another buffer score for Crokes on 55 minutes, a minute before he was replaced.

Colm Murphy landed a free right on 60 minutes to leave it a one point game as four minutes of injury time began to play out.

Kilmacud showed all their experience by holding onto the ball in the final stages and a point from Dara Mullin in injury time sealed the deal for them with a two point win.

Scorers for Kilmacud Crokes: Paul Mannion 0-3, Shane Cunningham 0-3, Cian O’Connor 1-0, Callum Pearson 0-2, Dara Mullin 0-2, Dan O’Brien 0-1.

Scorers for Portarlington: Colm Murphy 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 mark), Sean Byrne 0-2, Jake Foster 0-2, David Murphy 0-1, Rioghan Murphy 0-1, Stephen O’Neill 0-1, Adam Ryan 0-1 .

PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osborne; Cathal Bennett, Diarmuid Bennett, Alex Mohan; Stuart Mulpeter, Robbie Pigott, Paddy O'Sullivan; Sean Byrne, Keith Bracken; Adam Ryan, Ronan Coffey, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, David Murphy, Colm Murphy.

Subs: Stephen O'Neill for Ronan Coffey (45), Jordan Fitzpatrick for Diarmuid Bennett (47), Colin Slevin for Keith Bracken (58), Sean Michael Corcoran for Sean Byrne (60).

KILMACUD CROKES: Conor Ferris; Michael Mullin, Ross McGowan, Andrew McGowan; Dan O’Brien, Rory O’Carroll, Cillian O’Shea; Craig Dias, Ben Shovlin; Tom Fox, Paul Mannion, Callum Pearson; Aidan Jones, Shane Cunningham, Dara Mullin.

Subs: Cian O'Connor for Aidan Jones (38), Shane Horan for Tom Fox (38m), Conor Casey for Craig Dias (44), Darragh Jones for Shane Cunningham (55).

Referee: John Hickey (Carlow).