Longford SHC: Wolfe Tones through to the county final with easy win over Clonguish Gaels

Reigning champions Wolfe Tones booked their place in the Longford Senior Hurling Final with a comprehensive 18-point win over Clonguish Gaels at Michael Fay Park on Sunday.

Wolfe Tones . . . 5-16  Clonguish Gaels . . . 1-10

 Clonguish were always going to be up against it as they were missing a host of their starting fifteen players for various reasons, however, the Newtownforbes side got off to a flying start as they led by 1-2 to 0-1 after five minutes.

With less than two minutes on the clock, a Dan Crossan free was latched onto by Captain Declan Lee and he blasted the sliotar to the back of the Wolfe Tones net from twenty-five metres out. Crossan then converted a free and Stephen Gregg added a sumptuous point from way out on the left, while Maitiú O’Donohoe got the Wolfe Tones point.

Wolfe Tones responded in fine style by scoring 2 goals and a point in a three-minute spell between the seventh and ninth minutes. Dylan Hutchinson split the uprights with an excellent point and Ronan Courtney raised the green flag twice.

 His first goal came from an under-hit puck-out that he gathered, he ran in on goal and batted the ball over the advancing Clonguish keeper Josh Callaghan. A minute later, a diagonal low ball from O’Donohoe was intercepted by keeper Callaghan, but he was then dispossessed by Courtney who kept his composure to evade a challenge before firing the ball to the empty net, as the Edgeworthstown side were ahead by 2-2 to 1-2.

A Crossan free and a long-distance point from Paul Barden narrowed the deficit to a single point before O’Donohoe with a free and Alan Sorohan exchanged points to maintain the one-point margin after fifteen minutes.

Ronan Courtney for Wolfe Tones and Crossan for Clonguish both scored points as Clonguish kept their one-point advantage twenty minutes into the half.

The reigning champions finished strongly in the closing stages of the first half as they registered two goals and a point with Clonguish only scoring two points in those final eight minutes.

A brilliant Crossfield pass from Ronan Courtney picked out Liam Browne and he rattled the net, O’Donohoe converted a free, and then Evan Tully scored a superb goal in stoppage time from thirty metres out after receiving a superb pass from Browne.

In reply, Dan Crossan fired over two frees for Clonguish, but it was Wolfe Tones who went in at the interval leading by six points, 4-05 to 1-08, despite playing against the breeze.

It could have been worse for Clonguish as their keeper Callaghan prevented another goal just before half-time with a great save from Ronan Courtney’s close-range shot.

It was all one-way traffic in the second half as Clonguish only scored two points through Stephen Gregg and Crossan, while the men from Edgeworthstown added an extra 1-11 to their half-time score.

Evan Tully added five points to his first half goal with four of them coming from frees. O’Donohoe knocked over four second half points, three from play and one from a free, and the Courtney brothers, Ronan and Killian, scored a point each.

Wolfe Tones only goal of the second half and their fifth goal in total came in the dying embers of the match in bizarre fashion. A puck-out from Callaghan came back off a Clonguish player's hurl and somehow seemed to just trickle over the line.

Wolfe Tones Mostrim will now face Longford Slashers in the county senior hurling final at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday September 28th. 

WOLFE TONES MOSTRIM: Micheál Savage, Pearse McNally, John Mulhern, Shane Fahy, Jack Belton, Adam Quinn, John Gaffney, James Connell, Ciaran McNally, Dylan Hutchinson (0-1), Evan Tully (1-5, 4 frees), Maitiú O’ Donohoe (0-7, 4 frees), Liam Browne (1-0), Ronan Courtney (2-2), Killian Courtney (0-1).

Own goals (1-0).

Subs:- Adam Connaughton for Belton, Martin Coyle for Hutchinson (both 44 minutes), Luke Kelly for Ronan Courtney, Ali Iqbal for Fahy (both 47 minutes), Briain Farrell for Killian Courtney (53 minutes)

 CLONGUISH GAELS: Josh Callaghan, Eanna Madden, Anthony Watters, Michael Devlin, David Gregg, Alan Sorohan (0-1), Jack Nertney, Paul Barden (0-1), Declan Lee (1-0), Eoghan Kiernan, Dan Crossan (0-6, 4 frees), Cathal McGlynn, Patrick Crossan, Stephen Gregg (0-2), Oisin Flanagan.

Subs:- Eamon Nertney for Barden (20 minutes), Evan Buckley for McGlynn (57 minutes), Ryan Brittan for Jack Nertney, Jim Crossan for David Gregg (both 59 minutes).

Referee: James Judge (Mayo).