Portlaoise 1-9
Moorefield 0-8
PORTLAOISE ARE BACK in the AIB Leinster senior club football final after today’s semi-final success over Kildare champions Moorefield in O’Moore Park.
And the Laois kingpins will be hoping for better luck than last year when they lost the decider to Ballymun Kickhams as they seek their first title since 2009.
They’ll have to defeat Dublin opposition if they are to claim silverware with St Vincent’s set to stand in their way in the decider on December 8th.
After last week’s extra-time win over Longford Slashers at the quarter-final stage, it was Brian ‘Bruno’ McCormack who was the goalscoring hero once more on this occasion for Portlaoise.
He raised the only green flag of the encounter straight after the interval in what transpired to be a crucial strike in settling this contest.
Portlaoise edged into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead early on with McCormack, Craig Rogers and Brian Glynn all on target. But Moorefield controlled the remainder of the half with the accurate free taking of Ronan Sweeney and Adam Tyrrell helping them lead by 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.
Then McCormack bagged the early second-half goal that gave Portlaoise a major boost as they went in front by 1-4 to 0-6.
The teams stayed close to each other during the second-half and with seven minutes left Portlaoise were clinging to a two point lead, 1-7 to 0-8.
But Portlaoise moved clear of Moorefield in the finale with Paul Cahillane adding the insurance point to propel them towards a provincial decider.
