Very happy Longford manager Mike Solan satisfied with the draw against Limerick

After the match against Limerick in the opening round of the Division 4 National League at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday last, the Longford manager Mike Solan stated that he was satisfied with the draw.

“I am very happy with the draw; it was a great kick from Matthew (Carey) at the end to score that two-point equaliser. 

“The game was tit for tat most of the contest apart from the first fifteen minutes when we had built-up that seven-point lead, but Limerick had their purple patch and got back into it.

”It was very tight all the way through the second half and given where we were approaching the finish and having to rely on Matthew’s brilliant kick, we are delighted with the draw.’

The Clonguish forward showed great composure with the equalising two-point score from a free with the last kick of the game deep into stoppage time. 

The other two-pointer in the contest was also scored by Longford courtesy of Jayson Matthews after 44 minutes and Solan acknowledged both key scores and Carey’s impressive debut.

“There has been a lot of debate about the new rules and we did benefit from them with those two-pointers we scored and that was a pressure kick for Matthew at the end, but he is a great talent who has worked really hard since he joined the panel, and he deserved that score. You could not have a better man standing over that free, he has great technique and he is an excellent kicker, we were confident that he would put it over and he did.”

“Our hopes for the year ahead are very simple. We want to give all the lads who have worked very hard for us since we came in the best possible input we can. 

“The entire panel have been brilliant since we took over and those that did not make the match day 26 have worked really hard as well and they will get their chance. We are now looking no further ahead than next weekend’s game away to Tipperary and getting the bodies ready for that encounter.”

 The new rules benefitted the Longford’s team attacking movement in the first half as Oran Kenny rattled the Limerick net twice. Iarla O’Sullivan set up his fellow clubman for the first goal while Jayson Matthews and Cathal McCabe combined for Kenny’s second goal and Solan soon after. 

“The lads were moving the ball very well thankfully. It’s a new game that everyone is getting used to having to have the three players up the whole time, it presents opportunities in an attacking sense that we availed of, but it also presents challenges in a defensive sense for everybody. 

“We took advantage of some good play in the first half but then we were caught a couple of times ourselves, but it balanced out over the seventy minutes and thankfully we got the point in the end. 

“We had some scary moments in the second half and at times with the new rules, if you turn over possession between the two forty-fives in a central position as we did a couple of times.

“Unfortunately you are going to present good opportunities to the opposition, so that is something that we will have to work on for next week. I have to praise the team today as their application and effort was brilliant and they gave us everything.”

Finally, it was interesting to note that while a lot of keepers are now joining the attack to provide the extra attacker in the opposition half, the Longford Keeper Paddy Collum who made some very good saves especially his double stop from Emmett Rigter and Colm McSweeney just before half time, stuck to the traditional goal-keeping style. 

The Longford manager outlined that having the keeper as the extra attacker does not always pay off.

“Paddy did a fantastic job on that today; he made some really good saves and he made some very good kickouts. That extra-attacker role for our keeper is something that will probably evolve as we play more games. We have already seen the downside of the advanced attacking role for keepers as goals have been conceded with keepers out of position.”