Longford minors make great start in comfortable win over Offaly

Longford . . . 2-13   Offaly . . . 1-9  

First half goals from Cian O’Donnell and James Hagan paved the way for Longford’s comfortable win over Offaly at the Faithful Fields in Kilcormac on Wednesday night. 

It was a great start to the Leinster Minor Football Championship campaign for Enda McGahern’s well drilled side and at one stage they had built up a commanding 2-4 to 0-1 advantage after producing a strong performance at the Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence.

While the home county did manage to close the gap somewhat to trail by 2-5 to 0-5 at the break, determined Longford were in no mood to let a vital victory slip from their grasp and kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half in adding another eight points to their emphatic tally.

Substitute Senan Hanniffy converted a penalty for the Offaly consolation goal in the closing minutes of the Round 1 clash and this was a significant result in Longford’s quest to make it through to the knockout stages with the top 3 qualifying from the group. 

Dublin provide the opposition in the Round 2 fixture at Allen Park in Newtownforbes next Wednesday evening April 3 (throw-in 7.30pm) and Longford’s remaining match in the group stage is also at home against Laois at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Saturday April 13. 

The game was really over as a contest at half-time when Longford led by six points after playing against the wind. Offaly tried hard in the second half but never looked like hauling in that deficit and interest in the outcome had dwindled from a long way out.

Some of Longford's attacking football was a joy to watch with the goalscorers Cian O'Donnell and James Hagan particularly outstanding in clocking up a total of 2-7 between them. They looked very good when moving the ball at pace with Peter Farrell putting in a great shift at midfield in this excellent overall team effort.  

The Offaly attack found it very difficult to break down a solid Longford defence. 

Longford's attack were impressive in the first half. They ran at Offaly with terrific pace and took almost every chance. In fact Offaly were fortunate that the visitors didn't get a third goal as Karl O'Hara and Oisin Kane had the ball cleared off the line in one lethal attack in the 22nd minute.

Longford made a dream start with Cian McDonnell rounding off a fine move with a clinically taken goal in the third minute. An equally good goal from James Hagan made it 2-4 to 0-1 after fifteen minutes. 

Offaly’s best forward Cian McNamee (younger brother of former county stars Niall and Alan) got their first point from play to make it 2-4 to 0-4 after 22 minutes and McNamee added a super point in the 26th minute before Cian O'Donnell's quality score for Longford left the faithful county with a mountain to climb in the second half.

SCORERS - Longford: Cian O'Donnell 1-4 (1f), James Hagan (1-3 1f), Sean Fagan, James Shannon, Karl O'Hara, Ben Blessington, Keelan Hudson and Liam Greene 0-1 each.

SCORERS - Offaly: Cian McNamee 0-5 (2f), Senan Hanniffy 1-0 (p), Mark Bryant 0-2 (1m and 1f), Lee Moore and Eamon Maher 0-1 each.

OFFALY: Jack Ryan; Conor Daly, Adam Fox, Conor Egan; Luke Fitzgerald, Patrick Kenna, Tadgh Kelly; Eoin Rouse, Charlie Burns; Eoghan Cullen, Shane Horkan, Sean Wyer; Dylan Dunne, Mark Bryant, Cian McNamee.

Subs:- Lee Moore for E Cullen (half-time); Colm Egan for S Horkan (half-time); Senan Hanniffy for D Dunne (37 mins); Eamon Maher for S Wyer (50 mins); Darragh Sullivan for C McNamee (injured, 61 mins). 

LONGFORD: James Ross (Ballymore); Alan Mimnagh (Clonguish), Conor McHugh (Young Grattans), Darragh Mulligan (Carrickedmond); Conor Doherty (Killoe), Mark Cooney (Clonguish), Cormac Flynn (Clonguish); Sean Fagan (Abbeylara), Peter Farrell (Young Grattans); Oisin Kane (Fr Manning Gaels), Cian O’Donnell (Granard), James Shannon (Longford Slashers); Karl O’Hara (Abbeylara), Joshua March (Clonguish), James Hagan (Clonguish).

Subs:- Liam Greene (Mostrim) for O Kane (29 mins); Jack Finnegan (Young Grattans) for J Shannon (43 mins); Keelan Hudson (Colmcille) for K O'Hara (46 mins); Ben Blessington (Granard) for P Farrell (52 mins). 

Referee: Enda Kenny (Westmeath).