Portlaoise are the gilded and remorseless kings of Laois football, but yesterday, the crown finally slipped, and they lost a Laois county final for the first time since 2005.
The champions were going for a historic, and frankly ludicrous, tenth county title in a row, only to be denied it in equally absurd fashion.
Portlaoise led Stradbally by two points entering the final minute, only for the deeply improbable to happen.
Stradbally patiently worked the ball up the pitch, with Jody Dillon placing the ball into the top corner with a level of coolness and aplomb incongruous with the frenzied circumstances.
Here's the goal:
The local Midlands 103 commentary makes it all the better. Here it is, including the distortion upon the goal going in, as the excitement quite literally went off the scale.
The commentary team there are Jack Nolan and last year’s Laois minor football manager Mark Rooney.
If you're going to win a county final, that's the way to do it.
The result means that Stradbally are the first team to beat Portlaoise in a Laois county final since, er Stradbally, did in 2005.
