Brickeys win back place in Senior Football CHampionship at first time of asking.

Portlaw’s last appearance in a County Final was in 2012. It was the Intermediate Hurling decider and they travelled to Fraher Field believing just like many others that they could beat An Rinn in the final. As things turned out, Portlaw and those that fancied them to win were to be left disappointed as An Rinn romped to a very easy win at the end of the hour.

Portlaw were back in a county final last weekend when they took on Brickeys in the Intermediate Football Final at Walsh Park.

Many did not give them a chance. The experts were saying that it was going to be an easy win for the Bushy Park outfit. I believed that the Brickeys would win the game, but that it was going to be much closer than most were expecting it to be and when asked by two Portlaw supporters in Dungarvan in the days leading up to the game as to how I honestly believed the game would go, I said without hesitation that the Brickeys would win by two or three points.

I don’t know if I was believed or not, but not for the first time I wished I a few euro on the game the way my mind was telling me the game would end up.

Portlaw got off to a good start in this game with Man of the Match Paul Power hitting a point on two minutes.

Four minutes later they had a good chance to extend the lead but Richie Fitzpatrick shot wide shooting for goal, but had he passed to an unmarked Paul Power the outcome could have been different.

Brickeys got their first score of the game on eight minutes, after Christopher Mackey finished failed to deal with a Conor McGrath effort and when the ball fell in the direction of Emmet Gaffney he made no mistake in hitting the net with his fist to strike the ball.

Shane and Conor McGrath further stretched the Brickeys lead to four by ten minutes, only for Portlaw to real it back to one thanks to a brace of Paul Power points and one from John Hartley.

Carthach Shalloe hit a second goal moments later for Brickeys. He will have be counting himself lucky as he clearly was attempting to put the ball over the head of Christopher Mackey in the Portlaw goal but it dipped at the last second and fell into the net.

Mark Shalloe followed up with a point for Brickeys and when Conor McGrath added a third goal for the eventual winners shortly before the half time whistle, following some good work by Carthach Shalloe and Cormac O’Grady the writing looked to be on the wall for Portlaw.

Portlaw however started the second half brightly. John Hartley, Shane Power and Niall Fitzgerald all combined to set up Paul Power for a goal.

Points from Darren Long and Michael Donnelly followed for the Eastern Champions by the fortieth minute which left Portlaw trailing 3-3 to 1-6 and many were wondering could a result unforeseen by many actually happen.

Brickeys however would pile on the pressure in the time that remained in the third quarter. Carthach Shalloe with a brace and Cormac O’Grady would land points to extend Brickeys lead to a more comfortable six points.

Put Portlaw refused to throw in the towel. Paul Power landed a brace of points which was followed by an effort from Carthach Shalloe.

Paul Power would cancel out Shalloe’s effort and when Portlaw won a free it looked as though the Brickeys lead would be cut even further but Paul Power somehow saw his effort hit the upright go across the goal hit the other upright and drop down in front of the goal and the ball was cleared by the Brickeys defence.

Michael Donnelly put three between the sides when he pointed on fifty five minutes and moments later it looked as though it was going to be curtains for Portlaw but Cormac O’Grady saw his effort hit the side netting.

Another Michael Donnelly point followed for Portlaw in the second last minute of the game there was just two between the sides.

However there was to be no fairy-tail finish to this game as Brickeys at the end of the hour hit the endurance score through John Morrissey to move back up to the senior ranks for 2015, twelve months after they lost their place for this years competition.

Brickeys: Joe Grant; Carthach Barry, Philip Walsh, Kieran O’Neill; Tommy Lynch, Mark Cummins, Diarmuid Tobin; Conor Phelan, Darragh Duggan; Shane McGrath, Conor McGrath, Mark Shalloe; Cormac O’Grady, Emmet Gaffney, Carthach Shalloe. Subs: John Morrissey for Emmet Gaffney, Cormac Curran for Darragh Duggan, Olan Casey for Mark Shalloe, Jamie Kiely for Cormac O’Grady.

Scorers: Carthach Shalloe 1-3 (0-2f), Conor MCGrath 1-1, Emmet Gaffney 1-0, Shane McGrath, Mark Shalloe, Cormac O’Grady, John Morrissey 0-1 each.

Portlaw: Christopher Mackey; Noel Mackey, Paul Shankey, Blake O’Connor; James Rooney, Darren Rockett, Gary Morahan; Frank Galvin, Michael Donnelly; Niall Fitzpatrick, John Hartley, Shane Power; Richie Fitzpatrick, Paul Power, Mark Morahan. Sub: Darren Long for Richie Fitzpatrick.

Scorers: Paul Power 1-6 (0-2f), Michael Donnelly 0-3, John Hartley, Darren Long 0-1 each.

Referee: John Condon (An Rinn).