Portlaoise 1-9
Moorefield 0-8

Portlaoise booked their place in a second AIB Leinster Club SFC Final in a row, following a hard earned four-point win at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise this afternoon.

For the second weekend a row Portlaoise captain Brian McCormack bagged 1-2, as his 32nd minute goal handed the seven-in-a-row Laois champions a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Portlaoise stormed to a 0-3 to 0-0 lead inside the opening six minutes with McCormack, Craig Rogers and Brian Glynn on target.

Mick Lillis and Mark Kavanagh's charges suddenly came under huge pressure defensively, with Cahir Healy coping admirably at the back.

Moorefield's constant pressure saw them peg off points from frees, with Luke Dempsey's side slotting over five points in a row, all from frees, between the ninth and 20th minutes, to move 0-5 to 0-3 in front heading towards the break.

Adam Tyrrell and Ronan Sweeney proved deadly accurate from placed balls during this spell, with Tyrrell claiming three of these scores.

Portlaoise upped their game, with Moorefield goalkeeper Tom Kinsella coming off his line to fist out a Rogers effort in the 21st minute, while he proved a safe pair of hands from a McCormack shot two minutes later.

Paul Cahillane managed to break Portlaoise's scoring deadlock during this spell, as he ended a barren 16-minute spell for the Town side.

Moorefield stayed ahead at the interval, with Sweeney firing his third point to ensure a 0-6 to 0-4 half-time lead.

In a keenly contested encounter, tempers frayed slightly at the half-time whistle, with Rogers treated for an injury as the teams entered the dressing rooms at the break.

Moorefield tried hard to get the opening score of the second half, but failed to find their composure in front of target, as Portlaoise got off to a powerful start on the scoreboard.

1-1 from McCormack inside the opening six minutes of the restart hugely lifted Portlaoise, with the lone goal of the hour coming, after an initially misplaced pass from Kevin Murnaghan, with Cahillane feeding McCormack, for his second goal in a week.

Moorefield failed to recover from this despite their best efforts, only adding two points to their tally in the second half, including a fourth pointed free from Sweeney.

That score cut the gap to a point in the 40th minute, but Moorefield were guilty of six wides in the second half, to just one from Portlaoise.

Substitutes Barry Fitzgerald and Keith Duane traded points in quick succession, to ensure a 1-7 to 0-8 score-line with seven and a half minutes remaining.

However, Portlaoise closed out this game, with Rogers and Cahillane both scoring their second points of the afternoon to ensure a four-point win.

PORTLAOISE: M Nolan (0-1, 1f); M McNulty, P Cotter, B Mulligan; D Seale, C Healy, T Fitzgerald; C Boyle, S Nerney; B Glynn (0-1), K Lillis, B Smith; P Cahillane (0-2), B McCormack (1-2), C Rogers (0-2, 1f). Subs: E Whelan for McNulty (16); B Fitzgerald (0-1) for Cotter (28); A Kelly for Nerney (51); K Fitzpatrick for Smith (56).

MOOREFIELD: T Kinsella; L Callaghan, G Naughton, P O'Flynn; R Houlihan, K Murnaghan, J Lonergan; D Flynn, R Glavin; A Mullins, P Murray, A Tyrrell (0-3, 3f); N Hurley-Lynch, R Sweeney (0-4, 4f), C Kelly. Subs: D Whyte for Hurley-Lynch (HT); K Duane (0-1) for Murray (48); K O'Neill for Glavin (50); F Hanniffy for Callaghan (58).

REFEREE: David Coldrick (Meath) Tweet

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