Awesome Athy book Leinster final place
Mark Hyland and Niall Kelly, who scored ten points in the game, celebrate the Leinster semi-final win over Portarlington Photo: James Lawlor
It was a day that Athy have dreamed of and in the end it worked out better than they could have imagined in even their wildest dreams.
Even allowing for a strong wind behind them, Athy turned in a near perfect first half to lead 0-15 to 0-2 at the break and from there were never likely to let the opportunity slip from their grasp as they booked their place in the Leinster Senior Final for the first ever time.
Athy were supremely efficient with their shooting in front of the posts but they the basis of this win was the hard work done off the ball.
Portarlington frustrations grew as the half wore as time and again they were thwarted by the well organised Athy defence. That reached a crescendo on the one occasion that Athy dropped their guard in the first half, resulting in a 24th minute penalty after a foul on Patrick O’Sullivan.
Colm Murphy’s kick wasn’t his best effort but James Roycroft, who had already justified the call to return him to the team with a terrific save, dived low to his right to keep out the shot.
The magnificent Niall Kelly, who ended the game with ten points, kicked a two pointer during the first half while talismanic captain David Hyland kicked two superb efforts from beyond the arc.
Athy managed the game superbly in the second with Kelly, Hyland, Kevin Feely and Cathal McCarron all inspirational in their own.
Portarlington briefly threatened to build momentum when a Jake Foster point was followed by a two point free by Colm Murphy but the wind was quickly taken out of their sails when before the ball was kicked back out, Sean Byrne was shown a black card and they had to play a key part of the second half with 14 men.
Athy controlled the game from there until those Portarlington frustrations reached boiling point in the final seconds leading to a red card to O’Sullivan.
It means that Athy are one step closer to fulfilling their dreams. Running out in their club jersey at Croke Park to take on Ballyboden St Endas will fill all those on the pitch, and those in the stands, with immense pride but make no mistake about it, Athy aren’t going to Dublin next Saturday for an early Christmas day out. They are intent on adding the Leinster title to the Kildare Championship already in the bag and in this sort of form Ballyboden will have to be at their best to stop them.
N Kelly 0-10 (1tp, 4fs), David Hyland 0-4 (2tp), K Feely 0-1, R Kelly 0-1, S Moore 0-1 (45), C Doyle 0-1, M Hyland 0-1.
C Murphy 0-8 (3 tpf, 2f), D Slevin 0-1, R Murphy 0-1, J Foster 0-1.
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.vSubs: Mark Hyland for McGrath 19, Ben Purcell for B Kelly 48, Sean Bride for Maher 55, Kieran Farrell for Moran 63, Conor Kelly for R Kelly 65.
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.
Andrew Smith (Meath).
