Portlaoise (Laois) 1-10

Rhode (Offaly) 0-10

Brian 'Bruno' McCormack was superb as Portlaoise withstood a second half comeback from Rhode in an exciting Leinster SFC first round clash at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park.

The veteran attacker scored three points and also had a first-minute goal disallowed as Malachy McNulty's charges beat their midland rivals, who were managed for the last time by Pascal Kellaghan, who is taking up a new coaching role with Tipperary. Rhode finished the game with 14 men after Brian Darby was red-carded in injury-time for an off-the-ball incident.

Ciaran McEvoy's 23rd minute goal proved decisive as 'The Town' took a 1-8 to 0-6 lead into the interval. Portlaoise extended their lead to six points seven minutes into the second half before the Offaly kingpins scored four points on the trot to reduce the deficit to two, 0-10 to 1-9, with seven minutes remaining.

The game was in the melting pot at this juncture, but the Laois champions held out with Gareth Dillon's third point from play in the sixth minute of stoppage-time sealing a quarter-final berth against Moorefield of Kildare on November 12.

Portlaoise - M Nolan; C Finn, D Seale, F Flanagan; D Holland, K Lillis, B Mulligan; A Kelly, C McEvoy (1-0); G Dillon (0-3), C Boyle (0-1), B Carroll; P Cahillane (0-3f), B McCormack (0-3), S Lawless. Subs: B Smyth for S Lawless, C Rogers for B Carroll, P Downey for B Mulligan.

Rhode - K Garry; J Kavanagh, S Sullivan, J McPadden; D Kavanagh, B Darby, N Darby (0-2f); A McNamee (0-1), C McNamee; P McPadden (0-1f), N McNamee (0-5, 2f), S Hannon; P Sullivan, R McNamee, A Sullivan. Subs: D Garry for P McPadden, C Heavey (0-1) for D Kavanagh.

Referee - B Tiernan.

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