Longford SFC: Confident Clonguish in control against Mullinalaghta

Clonguish are cruising to a quarter-final spot in the Senior Football Championship with the wide margin of 14 points to spare over injury hit Mullinalaghta in the Group B clash at the Monaduff grounds in Drumlish on Saturday evening last. 

Clonguish . . . 4-20   Mullinalaghta St Columba’s . . . 3-9

Already without the suspended Aidan McElligott, the St Columba’s cause suffered further setbacks as Jayson Matthews (after just 9 minutes), Shane Mulligan and Emmet Brady were all forced to retire in a mounting casualty list.
There was some good news with the return of Gary Rogers (in Australia) after a lengthy absence and the pressure is piling on Mullinallaghta who are now facing a make or break showdown against Slashers in the crunch Round 3 fixture on Friday August 8.
The youthful Clonguish outfit (minus the injured Andrew Flynn) utilised their superior pace to fine effect and while the boys in green had to be content with a slender 2-8 to 2-5 lead at the break, they dominated the second half to win with considerable ease.
The highlight was a cracking goal from livewire corner-forward James Hagan who collected a terrific defence splitting pass from the boot of Matthew Carey in the 51st minute.
A fourth goal materialised a couple of minutes later when Cormac Flynn finished the ball to the net from close range after receiving the perfect pass from his brother Michael and superior Clonguish were rampant.
Mullinalaghta battled it out to the bitter end with James McGivney scoring a consolation goal in stoppage time and it remains to be seen whether the former force can recover from this heavy defeat in the fierce battle for a place in the last eight.
No less than 11 different players got their names on the scoresheet for Clonguish who recovered quickly from a Mullinalaghta goal scored by Emmet Brady with just four minutes gone on the clock.
The Newtownforbes outfit hit back with a goal from Cormac Flynn in the 11th minute after a shot from James Hagan was saved by the St Columba’s keeper Luke Meehan.
Jack Duggan blasted the ball to the roof of the net for a fabulous goal midway through the first half and he could have raised a couple of more green flags in tormenting the opposing defence.
While Mullinalaghta were given a glimmer of hope with a goal from Cian McElligott just before the break, a two-pointer from prominent wing back Matthew Flynn in the early stages of the second half put Clonguish back on track as they added another 2-10 to their impressive total tally.
Mullinalaghta tried hard to stay in touch but were second best in most positions on the pitch as Clonguish ran out very emphatic winners and will be hard stopped in their quest for Connolly Cup glory.

CLONGUISH: Joe O’Brien (0-1); Ross Shields, Conor Flynn, Mark Cooney; Alan Mimnagh, Ronan Sweeney, Matthew Flynn (0-2, two-pointer); Jack Duggan (1-0), Peter Hanley (0-2); Chris Gordon (0-2), Matthew Carey (0-5, 2 frees), Jamie Dorr; James Hagan (1-1), Michael Flynn ((0-5, 3 frees), Cormac Flynn (2-0).

Subs:- Neil Devlin for R Shields (30 mins); Daniel Carey (0-1) for J Dorr (injured, 39 mins); Kevin Burke for R Sweeney (59 mins); Jonathan Burke (0-1) for M Carey (injured, stoppage time).

MULLINALAGHTA ST COLUMBA’S: Luke Meehan; Francis Mulligan, Patrick Fox, Michael Cunningham; James Rogers, Connor Leonard, Shane Mulligan; David McGivney (0-2), Niall Woods; Cian McElligott (1-0), Cian Mackey (0-1), Emmet Brady (1-0); Jayson Matthews, Donal McElligott (0-2, 1 free), James McGivney (1-4, 1 two-pointer, 2 frees).

Subs:- Conan Brady for J Matthews (injured, 9 mins); Aron Earley for S Mulligan (injured, 26 mins); Gary Rogers for E Brady (injured, 42 mins); Simon Cadam. 

Referee: Patrick Maguire (St Mary’s Granard).