by Paddy Hickey

Portlaoise boss Malachy McNulty says he has no fears about his side having to face Kilmacud Crokes at Parnell Park in their Leinster Club SFC semi-final clash.

On the back of his charges’ win over reigning provincial champions Moorefield and Kilmacud’s victory over Dunboyne, the Laois and Dublin kingpins are set to face off at the Donnycarney venue on Sunday week.

“It’s my understanding that Kilmacud will have home advantage in the semi-final, and obviously the game is not going to be at Croke Park,” remarked McNulty, whose side also had to travel to Newbridge for their clash against the Kildare champions.

“So it's going to take place at Parnell Park, and many people would see that as giving Kilmacud an advantage regarding their prospects of qualifying for the provincial final.

“But we won’t be looking at the venue in a negative light towards our chances of getting the better of Kilmacud.

“It’s often the case when you’re on the road that your supporters come out in greater numbers to cheer you on rather than travelling down the road a kilometre for a match.

“So we will be hoping that will be the case for the semi-final, and, of course, we already have an experience of playing away in a match in this year’s competition,” added McNulty, who is in his fourth year in the Portlaoise hot seat, after immediately taking up the reins in the wake of a 14 year playing career with ‘The Town’

In addition, to his buoyant attitude regarding the venue for the provincial semi-final, the Portlaoise supremo is also likely to be boosted by the re-availability of exciting young corner-back Gary Saunders for the showdown against the Dublin outfit.

“Although he’s only 18, we’ve had Gary Saunders under the radar for some time, but because of the age rule he wasn’t allowed to play for our adult team in last year’s competitions,” pointed out McNulty, who won a whopping 10 county medals during his playing career with Portlaoise.

“But he was able to train with us all along, and this year he started and finished in all of our matches in the Laois Championship.

“However, unfortunately he picked up a knock in a game a few weeks ago and so he wouldn’t have been ready to play against Moorefield.

“But he has already got some training under his belt and we are optimistic that he will be available for selection for the game against Kilmacud,” added McNulty on Saunders, whose position was filled by Frank Flanagan in the Moorefield tie.

However, the Portlaoise manager, of course, is also aware of the fact that Kilmacud will be able to call on Dublin star Cian O’Sullivan, who was rested for the Dunboyne tie because he had just returned from his stag party in Madrid.

“With Cian O’Sullivan re-available, KIlmacud will be stronger than they were for the quarter-final, and they obviously felt they could afford to leave him out of the team against Dunboyne,” he remarked.

“We know, of course, that the semi-final is going to be a very serious challenge against opposition who are a solid, traditional home-grown Dublin club team, whose line-up I believe is composed of all fifteen players from the Stillorgan area.

“As well, as the inclusion of Cian O’Sullivan, Kilmacud have a lot of players with senior inter-county experience.

“But we had six or seven players involved with Laois this year, and the new lads in the county set-up have come on in leaps and bounds in terms of their strength and conditioning and the improvement in their footballing skills.”

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