Nightmare defeat against Fermanagh as dismal Longford crash out of the Tailteann Cup

Fermanagh . . . 2-19    Longford . . . 0-7

Dismal Longford crashed out of the Tailteann Cup in suffering a horrendous defeat against the far superior Fermanagh outfit in the second round of the Tier 2 Senior Football Championship at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday last.
Witness by a poor attendance in the region of 300 who at least were basking in the glorious sunshine, this was a nightmare experience for Mike Solan’s side who ended up losing by the landslide margin of 18 points with nothing but pride to play for in the remaining group fixture against Carlow at O'Connor Park in Tullamore on Sunday June 1, throw-in 1.45pm. 
Fairly competitive in the first half after trailing by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break, Longford were completely outclassed on the changeover and it could have been even worse but for three excellent point-blank saves by keeper Paddy Collum.
The Fermanagh backlash in the wake of the shock home defeat at home to Carlow in the opening round was felt in full force as Longford fell to one of their heaviest setbacks for quite some time at Pearse Park that was once labelled a ‘fortress’.
The state of Longford football has reached a very low ebb and one wonders what can be done to stop the slide into the also-ran category, presuming Mike Solan will be back as the manager for next season!
Just two wins were recorded this year, at home to Waterford and away to London in Division 4 of the National League, and Longford were fortunate in both those games during the current rebuilding process.
Nothing is going right at the moment with a torn ligaments ankle injury sustained in the loss against Wexford the previous week ruling out livewire attacker Cathal McCabe who will have to endure a lengthy absence which is a big blow for his club Colmcille.

The sides exchanged a score apiece in the early stages of the low intensity game with Dylan Farrell on target for Longford in the 4th minute but the physically stronger Fermanagh side gradually enjoyed the much greater share of the possession mainly due to the midfield dominance of the powerful pairing of Joe McDade and Darragh McGurn.

A couple of well-taken points from attacking wing back Fionan O’Brien was a clear indication of the pressure Longford were under but after missing a few two pointer attempts the orange flag was eventually raised when Dessie Reynolds slotted the ball over the bar in the 26th minute,

Reynolds was made the captain for the day to mark his recent 100th senior competitive game for the county and the best Longford could manage during the remainder of the first half was another point from Dylan Farrell in stoppage time.

What happened in the second half was horrific as the midlanders were restricted to just three more scores through Jayson Matthews (47th minute), Aaron Farrell (48th minute) and Dylan Farrell (67th minute).

Fermanagh were rampant in adding another 2-10 to their impressive tally with the goals scored by Conor Love (55th minute) and substitute Aogan Kelm (stoppage time) as Longford’s poor season has drifted into a very disappointing end.

LONGFORD: Paddy Collum (Fr Manning Gaels); Patrick Fox (Mullinalaghta), Oisin O’Toole (Dromard), Bryan Masterson (Abbeylara); Iarla O’Sullivan (Rathcline), James Moran (Killoe), Cian Brady (Abbeylara); Dessie Reynolds (Sean Connolly’s, 0-2, two-pointer), Daire Duggan (Sean Connolly’s) ; Jayson Matthews (Mullinalaghta, 0-1), Matthew Carey (Clonguish), Dylan Farrell (Killashee, 0-3); Aaron Farrell (Dromard, 0-1), Keelin McGann (Kenagh), Caolan Lynch (Abbeylara). 

Subs:- Oran Kenny (Rathcline) for K McGann (47 mins); Ryan Moffett (Killoe) for C Brady (50 mins); Paddy Moran (Killoe) for C Lynch (54 mins); Darragh Finlass (Forgney) for B Masterson (60 mins); Jamie Brady Hynes (Granard) for A Farrell (60 mins).

FERMANAGH: Sean McNally; Che Cullen, Lee Cullen, Oisin Smyth; Shane McGullion, Declan McCusker (0-1), Fionan O’Brien (0-3); Joe McDade (0-1), Darragh McGurn (0-1); Conor McGee (0-1), Ryan Lyons (0-3), Luke Flanagan; Josh Largo Ellis (0-2), Garvan Jones (0-4, 1 two-pointer free, 1 free), Conor Love (1-2).  

Subs:- Ronan McCaffrey for C McGee (46 mins); Diarmuid Owens for C Love (58 mins); Aogan Kelm (1-1) for S McGullion (59 mins); Jack Largo Ellis for D McCusker (66 mins); Oisin Murphy for D McGurn (66 mins).   

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).