County finals are the heartbeat of the GAA, even when your hometown club throws it all away

Thirty seconds left and Brian Smith is in possession for Portlaoise in the right corner-forward position. Play down the clock and Portlaoise are county champions for the 10th time in a row.

At that stage Stradbally had run out of ideas and it looked like another routine win for Portlaoise. They hadn’t played well up until that point, but they rarely have to play well to win in Laois.

Smith had no support and was turned over by Colm Begley, who was excellent right throughout the game for Stradbally. Ten handpasses later and the ball is in the back of the Portlaoise net. How Portlaoise allowed that happen is beyond belief.

The only reason I can think of is complacency. This is not a criticism of Portlaoise, but they have been routinely beating teams in Laois for too long now and it’s very easy to switch off. No one in the ground thought Stradbally would work the ball down the field and score a goal but that’s what happened.

I spoke with a Portlaoise player on Sunday night and asked him if it was Ballymun Kickhams or St Vincents that turned over the ball with thirty seconds left would they be allowed run the ball down the field to score a goal? Of course they wouldn’t. It would be all hands on deck. A goal was needed and players would take black cards for fun. Whether they admit it or not, the Portlaoise players were like everyone else in the ground, they didn’t for a second think a winning goal was coming.

https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/787971922348875776

Again I don’t blame them. The Laois championship has been poor for years now. Portlaoise have no real competition. They have no rivals. I still wouldn’t look at this Stradbally team as rivals, even after losing to them.

Across the country, there are similar conversations going on at the moment. In parishes all over Ireland, there is talk of fierce clashes and unfair defeats. It's easy to forget at the height of summer when the inter-county games take all the attention, but the inter-club rivalries are the fuel for most GAA people throughout the year.

https://twitter.com/ConanDoherty/status/786286757197127680

Watching Stradbally celebrate on Sunday brought back horrible memories of my first county final in 1997 against them. We were four points up with 10 minutes to go, in control of the game and they scored two goals and won by six. That loss hurt. I hated them back then but they were a very good team and had a better team on paper. They had Barney Maher, Larry Keenan, Goggy Delaney, Eamon Delaney, Jeremy Kavanagh, Podge Langton and Greg Ramsbottom. Looking at the Stradbally team on Sunday it wasn’t a patch on that side.

We would get our revenge on them in 1999, beating them in a semi-final when they were favourites and going for three in a row. That was a proper rivalry. We beat St Josephs in the final that year, lost to them the following year in the final and then beat them in the final in 2002. St Josephs had a brilliant club team too. Stephen, Tom and Colm Kelly, Joe Higgins, PJ Dempsey, the Laceys and Noel Garvan were all serious operators. County titles were hard won back them.

The standard of club football in Laois has dropped drastically from those days. Portlaoise improved while their main rivals went off the tracks. Until Sunday Kieran Lillis, and others his age, never lost a county final for Portlaoise, winning nine. A loss like this could do them the world of good. You don’t appreciate winning unless you have suffered defeat. That loss will drive them on next year.

I won six county titles and a Leinster club with Portlaoise and lost two county finals and an All Ireland club final. I won a lot more than I lost, but the ones I remember the most are the defeats, especially ’97 and the 2004 loss to Ballina.

I would love to see clubs in Laois amalgamate and give Portlaoise some competition. Stradbally and Timahoe players had a meeting a few years ago and the players wanted to join up but older club members didn’t allow it. I believe Arles Kileen and Arles Kilcruise players would be more open to the idea than older non-playing members too. Portarlington could join with Emo, St Josephs with Crettyard. Even if there are only eight teams left in the Laois championship we could play two groups of four and then semi-finals. The champions would play five games to win, just like they are now, but they would be five quality games.

The Laois championship needs that. Portlaoise players need to feel the underdog tag and the thrill of winning against the odds. They need to learn lessons about their team before it’s too late like against a Dublin team in Leinster. Portlaoise lost narrowly to St Vincents in 2013 and Ballyboden last year in Leinster club finals. Both went on to win the All Ireland and both games were lost in the last 10 minutes. The Dublin clubs knew how to win tight games, Portlaoise didn’t.

Of course Stradbally will say they won it without anyone’s help but nine times out of 10 Portlaoise win that game and they know it. That is why they deserve so much credit for their performance on Sunday. They took Portlaoise on and played attacking football against them. They kicked some wonderful scores in the first half with the wind and scored two brilliant goals in the second. Incredibly they won the game without, arguably, their two best players – Paul Begley and Colm Kelly.

My hatred for Stradbally isn’t there anymore. I’m older and wiser now and I don’t look at football in Laois with my Portlaoise blinkers on. I worked over there for a couple of years and realised they were alright; they were just passionate about their own club the same way we were about ours. I texted Greg Ramsbottom and Colm Begley on Monday and told them I was delighted for them and I meant it.

Greg is nearly 39 now and has been a friend for a long time. He deserved it. He battled away for the last five or six years without any realistic hope of winning a county title - he more than played his part on Sunday. Colm Begley joined Parnells a year after me because he needed work after arriving home from Australia. His club understood his situation but I’m sure they were disappointed. He really stood up and was counted on Sunday - Stradbally wouldn’t have won without him. All is forgiven, Colm.

This really is a special time of the year and it only adds to the frustration that we aren't seeing more days like these throughout the season. This is pure, amateur football, exactly what the GAA is supposed to be. There were no player statements afterwards or pictures of backroom teams totalling 23. Portlaoise will be back, but it was Stradbally’s day, it was Jody Dillon’s day. Most importantly, it was a day which makes the GAA what it is.

Brought to you by AIB, proudly backing Club & County. Follow AIB GAA on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.