Longford hurlers draw no comfort in Lory Meagher Cup exit

Monaghan . . . 2-20     Longford  . . . 2-20

A draw was not good enough for the Longford senior hurlers as they crashed out of the Lory Meagher Cup at the excellent Inniskeen grounds on Saturday last.
The result in the remaining group fixture earned the fortunate home county Monaghan a crack at strongly fancied New York in the semi-final this weekend to determine who will be the opposition for Cavan in the title decider at Croke Park.
The sides were deadlocked at the break (0-13 to 1-10) in the heat of the glorious sunshine with Ronan Courtney scoring the goal for Longford in the early stages of the must win match.
The ding-dong battle continued until the visitors stepped up another gear to score 1-3 in a row with substitute David Buckley blasting the ball to the net in the 60th minute.
That left Longford in what appeared to be a comfortable 7 points winning lead but an immediate goal from Monaghan midfielder James Slevin, followed by another green flag strike from substitute Emmet Walsh, threw the outcome wide open.
Man of the match Niall Arthur (clocking up the impressive total of 0-15 - 11 from frees) went on to shoot the vital batch of late scores in a frantic finish that earned Monaghan the draw they required to make further progress in the Tier 5 championship.
Longford’s tale of of woe was complete when their fiery manager Diarmuid Cahill received a straight red card deep into stoppage time for losing his cool and he was in a furious mood from the moment a goal was disallowed in the first quarter when the referee penalised Ronan Courtney for what he deemed to be an illegal pass into Reuben Murray.
The entire Longford squad, mentors and the usual small band of loyal supporters felt very aggrieved with a number of harsh decisions made by the Donegal official Aidan McAleer that went against the midlanders during the course of this otherwise entertaining encounter.
Having said that, Cahill’s charges should never have let such a commanding lead slip when the game was seemingly won and injuries suffered by key players certainly hampered their championship challenge this season.
Martin Farrell and Alan Devoine shared seven points in the first half with Reuben Murray (free), Micheal Mulcahy and Joe Rabbitt also on target and Longford were never behind in this crunch clash.
The boys in blue and gold added another 1-10 to their tally in the second half with David Buckley scoring 1-2 while the other points were registered by Reuben Murray (3), Niall Hawes (3), Farrell (free) and Adam Quinn.
Longford tried hard to engineer a last gasp winning goal deep into the lengthy stoppage time but resolute Monaghan stood firm in holding out for a fortunate draw to clinch a semi-final spot.

MONAGHAN: Hugh Byrne; Jack Guinan, Aaron Kenny, Pauric Malone; Conor Boyle, Kevin Crawley, Oisin Hagan; James Slevin (1-1), Shane Slevin; Conall McHugh, Niall Garland (0-2), Leo Moloney (0-1); Rowan McMahon, Niall Aruther (0-15, 11 frees), James Brady (0-1).

Subs used (second half): Ethan Flynn, Declan Crowe and Emmet Walsh (1-0). 

LONGFORD: Johnny Maher (Kilmacud Crokes); Sean Lancaster (Castlepollard), Eamon Allen (Kilmacud Crokes), Kealan Cox (Longford Slashers); Karl Murray (Longford Slashers), Johnny Casey (Longford Slashers), Declan Hayes (Ballingarry, Tipperary); Reuben Murray (Longford Slashers, 0-4, 2  frees), Martin Farrell (Blackrock, Limerick, 0-5, 2 frees); Alan Devine (Castlepollard, 0-3), Evan Tully (Wolfe Tones), Matthew Hawes (Longford Slashers); Ronan Courtney (Wolfe Tones Mostrim, 1-0), Joe Rabbitt (Castlepollard, 0-1), Micheal Mulcahy (Longford Slashers, 0-1).

Subs:- David Buckley (Longford Slashers, 1-2) for E Tully (injured, 15 mins); Niall Hawes (Longford Slashers, 0-3) for M Hawes (39 mins); Adam Quinn (Wolfe Tones, 0-1) for D Hayes (48 mins); Dan Crossan (Clonguish Gaels) for A Devine (52 mins); Sean Tiernan (Longford Slashers) for R Courtney (68 mins). 

Referee: Aidan McAleer (Donegal).