Portlaoise have pedigree and momentum for success

After two unsightly AIB club semi-finals, there are reasons to be optimistic about this afternoon's All-Ireland football decider. Both sides' default setting is to play ball and it won't be the inclination of either to alter that.

Not that they couldn't. Ballina had to survive a very physical battle against Kilmurry-Ibrickane whereas Portlaoise surprised many by taking on Crossmaglen in the Armagh club's own idiom before eking out the sort of scoreline that you imagine would dominate the index of a Crossmaglen club history.

Cross were magnanimous afterwards and Cathal Short put his finger on one reality about Portlaoise: "They're a young team, probably what we were seven or eight years ago - coming straight through from underage and all credit to them."

Short was right and the Laois champions fit the profile of winners to a far greater extent than their opponents. Experience doesn't count for a lot in club championships and fresh teams that focus on the campaign and gather momentum all in the space of a season have a better record than teams coming back to make good on past disappointments.

It was no secret last autumn that Portlaoise fancied themselves no end to win Leinster and those who were sufficiently evangelised by that confidence would have got 10 to 1 at the start of the provincial championship. That they swept through in such style was partly attributable to the lack of serious competition.

Even in the final, Skryne ended up deprived of John McDermott at the last minute.

Oddly, the one area where Ballina's experience should have been a great advantage was in navigating the long break over Christmas. Portlaoise are said locally to have struggled to cope with that break in momentum, unsure when to pick up training and when to ease off.

Yet, whereas the Leinster champions certainly struggled in their semi-final, there was no sign that the Mayo side were in notably better fettle.

Fortune - more treacherous than a fickle friend to Ballina in 1999 - hasn't helped this time either with Enda Devenney out because of injury. His pace helps him troubleshoot all around the defence and also launch the first phase of attacks. His brother James is back after being away, but it's a lot of disruption for a settled defence.

John O'Mahony has been helping Ballina with their preparations and his knowledge of the big day in Croke Park will be useful for those on the team who weren't around six years ago. But Portlaoise are thoroughly familiar with the venue. Fourteen of the starting line-up have played there before and a clutch of replacements have All-Ireland medals at minor level. If that sort of experience is decisive, Portlaoise are well placed.

But it's more on the playing front that Ballina face problems. Their defence got into tangles against a fairly limited Killererin in the Connacht final and will face more intense difficulties this afternoon.

At centrefield David Brady and Ronan McGarrity carry the highest expectations of Ballina actually dominating a sector, but Martin Delaney and Kevin Fitzpatrick have both played at All-Ireland level, albeit not senior, and have the class to make a match of it.

This will come down to which team can recover best from the disappointment of subdued semi-finals. Again the preference is for Portlaoise who struggled against stronger opposition than Ballina faced and had been uncertain of how best to get over the break.

This was particularly true of key forwards Colm Parkinson and Ian Fitzgerald, both of whom were away for extended periods. Parkinson, who had dazzled in Leinster, had an awful match in the semi-final but, according to reports, he and the rest of the team are now flying and blitzed Portarlington, a side they had struggled to beat of late, in a recent league fixture.

Ballina have pace and strength and a strong motivation - David Brady faces into his seventh All-Ireland final, at all levels, without a medal. But they don't have their best player nor, you suspect, the game to deal with their opponents in full flight.

BALLINA: J Healy; J Devenney, M Wynne, C Leonard; B Ruane (capt), S Sweeney, S Melia; R McGarrity, D Brady; P Harte, G Brady, E Casey; P McGarry, L Brady, S Hughes.

PORTLAOISE: M Nolan; T Fitzgerald, C Byrne, E Bland; B Mulligan, C Healy, A Fennelly; M Delaney, K Fitzpatrick; B McCormack, I Fitzgerald, B Fitzgerald; P McNulty, C Parkinson (capt), C Rogers.