Farrell runs show, Shearer seals it

There's now a growing feeling among the Na Fianna support that they should start thinking about Croke Park on St Patrick's Day after another convincing display from the Dublin champions in Newbridge yesterday saw them reach the Leinster club football final for the first time.

Dessie Farrell repeated his role in the county final and subsequent victory over Rathnew two weeks ago with an inspiring performance at corner forward. Combined with the ever-reliable boot of captain Mick Galvin and a fairly lethal finish from Aaron Shearer which produced the only goal of the game, there were many moments which suggested that this is the sort of outfit that has the ultimate reward in club football well within its reach.

For the young Portlaoise side, the game was well and truly finished by the time they were reduced to 14 men inside the last 10 minutes. They scored only once from play in the first half and lacked any coherent firepower in the second to put up a serious challenge.

For at least the first 10 minutes, however, it seemed that this would be an evenly fought encounter. Ian Foley shot over the opening point after three minutes and Galvin hit his first free shortly after, but the Portlaoise men were equally determined to make use of every ball they got. Ian Fitzgerald punched over their first score on six minutes and Cyril Duggan, who moved into the forwards, was also picking up a lot of loose ball from midfield.

In contrast to their last outing, Na Fianna were slow to find their attacking feet. Des Mackin had been troubled with a hamstring strain before the start and was less effective at full forward, although his Armagh team-mate Kieran McGeeney soon developed a more commanding role at midfield and with superb accuracy set up Farrell's first point on the quarter-hour mark.

Still, if they hadn't been so hasty with their chances, Portlaoise could have capitalised on Na Fianna's uncertain start. After missing a couple of frees, Fitzgerald finally found his range and Kevin Fitzpatrick then did similar from the left side to bring them back to within one point (0-5 to 0-4) after 20 minutes.

But Na Fianna then closed the half with their best period of the game. Foley laid on a perfect pass for Karl Donnelly and it took an excellent save from John Hannafey to prevent a certain goal. Foley completed another good sequence with a point before Farrell earned him another free and that extended the lead to 0-7 to 0-4 just in time for the interval.

At that stage, the more rounded Na Fianna outfit became dominant even if the fear that Portlaoise could make more from their possession remained. Manager Paul Caffrey can't have been entirely satisfied with what he'd seen so far, but Farrell had an electric start to the second half with as good a point as anyone could hope for.

Shearer and Foley then doubled the advantage so that a Portlaoise comeback suddenly appeared out of bounds. It then disintegrated on 44 minutes when Farrell made another penetrating run that required three defenders to close down. But the ball rolled out to Shearer, who hit it first time on the run so that Hannafey didn't even see it hit the net.

Now leading 1-10 to 0-5, Na Fianna backed off somewhat and allowed Portlaoise to pick off three points in succession - including the first from centre forward Colm Parkinson after he had threatened for so long.

Unfortunately for them, this late momentum was lost when Colm O'Keeffe, booked early in the first half, was given a second yellow card from referee Michael Monahan after knocking Foley on the head, albeit accidentally. Down to 14 men with just seven minutes of normal time left, the Portlaoise challenge was over.

Farrell left the field to huge applause a couple of minutes before the end and there was still time for Foley and substitute Dermot Lynch to add two more points to the Na Fianna total. Now just two games away from an All-Ireland final, if this team can click for the full hour then those supporters may just get their day in Croke Park.

NA FIANNA: S Grey; P McCarthy, B Quinn, T Lynch; S McGlinchey, M Foley, N O Murchu; S Forde, K McGeeney; M Galvin (0-3, one free), A Shearer (1-1), K Donnelly; D Farrell (0-2), D Mackin, I Foley (0-6, three frees). Subs: D Keegan for Forde (47 mins); D Lynch (0-1) for D Farrell (58 mins), J Kearns for Galvin (62 mins).

PORTLAOISE: J Hannafey; B Gaynor, E Bland, C O'Keeffe; C Duggan, N Collins, A Fennelly; B Fitzpatrick, E Coleman; K Fitzpatrick (0-3, all frees), C Parkinson (0-2), T Conroy; F Fennell, I Fitzgerald (0-4, three frees), D Mullins. Subs: B McCormack for Fennell (40 mins); E Delaney (0-1) for Coleman (49 mins).

Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).