Our under 11's had to don their blue kit today as they entertained the Portlaoise boys in green in what turned out to be an enthralling battle between two talented sides at Whitegates in round 4 of the National Cup. Rovers nearly opened the scoring in the first minute when Alessio Coppola broke down the left wing and forced the Portlaoise keeper to produce a fine save and parry the ball to one of his defenders to clear for a corner. The corner was defended well and after that these two teams really got stuck into each other in a tough but fairly contested enthralling battle. Defences were coming out on top in the first half but in one rare breach of the Rovers rear guard, keeper Ben Morrissey was there to ensure that the teams came in 0-0 at half time. Chances were few and far between as the second half continued with Jack Collins unlucky not to put Rovers one up from a corner. Portlaoise came at Rovers and created a few chances but in the main the Rovers defence held firm until a Portlaoise midfielder picked up the ball just inside the Rovers half and struck a lovely shot past the despairing Matthew Gough to win the match for Portlaoise with only minutes left on the clock. So it was heart break for our boys in blue but they will take great pride in reaching this stage of the competition. There was absolutely nothing between these two teams on the day and the match could have went either way. We wish Portlaoise the very best of luck in the competition and hopefully our paths can cross again to produce another highly entertaining encounter.