Longford SFC Final: Mark Hughes goal the decisive factor as Killoe pip Clonguish

Killoe Emmet Og . . . 1-8   Clonguish . . . 0-10 

A goal from the top scorer Hughes with a couple of minutes gone in the second half of the county final played in front of the estimated 3,500 attendance in perfect conditions at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday last proved to be the decisive factor in the eventual outcome.

Paddy Moran cut in from the right to deliver a pass into the direction of the outstretched Hughes in front of the posts but he managed to get a vital touch in finding the back of the net.  

That crucial score left Killoe leading by 1-4 to 0-4 and they managed to consolidate that advantage until the underdogs Clonguish produced their now customary late charge to close the gap. 

With his side trailing by 1-7 to 0-7, up stepped Michael Flynn to fire over a glorious point from near the sideline in the 53rd minute and a couple of converted frees followed from Matthew Carey to level matters with time running out.

A draw and a replay was looking set to materialise but Killoe launched another attack and were awarded a close range free following a foul on their captain Cian Farrelly in the second minute of additional time. 

The cool Mark Hughes kept his composure to slot the ball over the bar in ending up with the impressive total of 1-5 to his credit and Clonguish were unable to engineer the equalising score in this tight contest that failed to reach a real high.  

Liam Belton’s boys were left to rue the kicking of a number of wides during the course of the game, including a couple of frees in the final quarter, but they will definitely be back in quickly shaping up as a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Killoe were also guilty of missing scoring chances, most notably the clear-cut goal opportunity that fell to Mark Hughes who was put clean through in the 11th minute of the first half following a brilliant defence splitting pass from the man of the match Daniel Mimnagh who was winning the prestigious Fr Phil McGee award for the third time. 

Mimnagh capitalised on a poor kick-out in letting the ball into the unmarked Hughes but he was denied by the Clonguish keeper Joe O’Brien who produced a great point-blank save. 

Luke Dempsey deserves considerable credit for returning Killoe to the summit of Longford football and the Emmet Og manager could be facing one of his former clubs St Loman’s Mullingar (or the Wexford champions Shelmaliers) in the Leinster quarter-final at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday November 5th.  

KILLOE EMMET OG: Micheal Hughes; Liam Hughes, Niall Farrelly, Evan Farrelly; Ronan Keogh, Darren Moffett, Gavin Farrelly; Ryan Moffett, Paddy Kiernan; Denis McGoldrick, Michael Quinn, Cian Farrelly (0-1); Daniel Mimnagh (0-1), Mark Hughes (1-5, 4 frees), Paddy Moran.

Subs:- Colm Coyle for E Farrelly (37 mins); Ronan McGoldrick (0-1) for D McGoldrick (41 mins); Shane Clarke for R Keogh (60 mins).

CLONGUISH: Joe O’Brien; Conor Smith, Gerry Moore, Conor Flynn; Josh Sorohan, Andrew Flynn, Darran Quinn (0-1); Ronan Sweeney, Conor Shields; Matthew Flynn, Jack Duggan, Chris Gordon (0-2); Matthew Carey (0-5, 4 frees), David Barden, Michael Flynn (0-2, 1 free).

Subs:- Peter Hanley for G Moore (47 mins); Kevin Burke for C Gordon (48 mins). 

Referee: Hugh O’Kane (Young Grattans).