Missed chance haunt Leitrim as Longford second half surge takes Lory Meagher Cup
LORY MEAGHER CUP FINAL: LEITRIM 1-13 LONGFORD 1-18
Missed goal chances will haunt Leitrim after Sunday’s Lory Meagher Cup Final in Croke Park as a powerful second half surge from Longford saw them triumph by five points at GAA headquarters.
Leitrim looked the better team for the first 40 minutes but a host of missed goal chances came back to haunt them as they were unable to gain the separation they need and once Longford starting to space in the Leitrim defence, the scores came.
The crucial score was a Reuben Murray goal, a snap shot after a long ball into the goal mouth - that put Longford two up midway through the half and they never looked back as they surged to victory.
Longford opened with Reuben Murray putting a free wide before the resulting Clement Cunniffe puck out broke kindly and James McNabola drove through to fire over the opening score after a minute.
Kevin Clerkin followed with a wide while Longford’s David Buckley and Murray did the same before Paddy Lynam fired over for the Leinster side. After a wide for both teams, Longford edged in front with a Reuben Murray free after ten minutes as both teams struggled to get into a rhythm.
But that score seemed to wake both teams up - Philip Burgess levelled the scores almost immediately from long range with Joe Rabbit restoring the Longford lead seconds later. Leitrim had a goal chance when James McNabola’s pass set up Paul Mulligan for a powerful shot from a tight angle.
Longford went for goal themselves, Clement Cunniffe making a good save to deny Ronan Courtney a goal. Courtney put Longford two clear on 16 minutes but a fabulous catch and turn from Dhani Keane saw him fire over a wonderful point. Leitrim levelled once more on 18 minutes when Colm Canning landed a long range free.
The Toomevara man had a goal chance but keeper Johnny Maher made his second save of the day before Philip Burgess burst through a challenge to land the lead score. But in a tit for tat game, Longford hit back with two points on the spin from Maitiu O’Donohoe in a two minute spell.
Colm Canning successfully converted a 65 that was initially ruled a wide from Dhani Keane but the umpire was correctly over-ruled. Longford came charging back with points from O’Donohue and Martin Farrell who converted a monster free that was about five yards from his own 45 metre line!
But once again, Leitrim responded - Gavin O’Hagan landed a wonder point from near the sideline, inside the 21 yard line before Philip Burgess landed from the left win to tie the scores after 31 minutes.
Leitrim were on a roll with a long ball to Dhani Keane expertly worked to Colm Canning for a wonderful score before Canning then blasted a 60 yard effort from the middle of the park to give Leitrim a deserved 0-10 to 0-8 halftime lead, both teams missing late chances.
Paddy Lynam had a goal chance inside the first minute of the second halibut he dragged his shot wide but the half took a while to get going with no score for the first ten minutes and only wides to show, although Clement Cunniffe did very well to parry a floating shot that just evaded the Longford full-forward.
Martin Farrell’s free ended the famine with Paul Mulligan pointing after good work from Niall Crowe and Canning. Cathal Mullane cut the gap to a point but Mulligan hit back with a fabulous point from the opposite corner to leave two in it again.
But Longford were starting to find form - Clement Cunniffe did incredibly well to deny David Buckley a certain goal, not once but twice, before Lynam landed a great point from the wing and the game took a big swing Longford’s way when Reuben Murray reacted quickest to a long ball that bounced in the Leitrim danger area, smashing the ball to the net.
Murray added another point for Longford to stretch their lead to three but they then had a succession of poor wides as Leitrim struggled to cope with their energy. David Buckley added another to put them four up before Gavin O’Hagan landed a huge long range point that came via Hawkeye after the umpire waved wide.
Martin Farrell restored the four point gap from a free on 27 minutes and Longford started to surge clear as they hit points from Reuben Murray, Cathal Mullane and Farrell to leave them seven points clear with two minutes to go.
Mullane added another but to their credit, Leitrim never gave up and got just reward when Joe Murray forced home an injury time goal but it was Longford’s day as Leitrim’s unbeaten record came to an end.
LEITRIM
Scorers: Colm Canning 0-4, 1f, 1 65; Philip Burgess 0-3; Joe Murray 1-0; Paul Mulligan & Gavin O’Hagan 0-2 each; James McNabola & Dhani Keane 0-1 each
Team: Clement Cunniffe, Paul Lenehan, Conor Hackett, Pearse Kenny, Niall Crowe, Martin Feeney, Joe Murray, Philip Burgess, Stephen Goldrick, Paul Mulligan, James McNabola, Kevin Clerkin, Dhani Keane, Colm Canning, Gavin O’Hagan. Subs: Mark McHugh for Clerkin (60)
LONGFORD
Scorers: Reuben Murray 1-3, 1f; Martin Farrell 0-4, 4f; Maitiú O'Donohoe & Cathal Mullane 0-3 each; Paddy Lynam 0-2; Joe Rabbitt, Ronan Courtney & David Buckley 0-1 each
Team: Johnny Maher, Ciarán McNally, Sean Lancaster, James Connell, Johnny Casey, Martin Farrell, Evan Tully, Reuben Murray, Paddy Lynam, Maitiu O'Donohoe, Ronan Courtney, Cathal Mullane, Joe Rabbitt, David Buckley, Mícheál Mulcahy. Subs: Eamonn Allen for Courtney (32); Seán Tiernan for O’Donohue (43); Stephen Murray for Rabbitt (47); Niall Hawe for R Murray (67), Kealan Cox for McNally (72)
Referee: Conor (Daly Kildare)