Longford Rugby Club get past Portlaoise in the Towns Cup

Longford RFC . . . 34    Portlaoise RFC . . . 15 

Report: Matt Hanley at Longford Rugby Club

Bank of Ireland Provincial Towns cup matches are often tense affairs and it was no different on Sunday last when Longford welcomed Portlaoise. 

Conditions were ugly with a cold biting breeze driving through sharp showers and the visitors had the advantage of the elements in the first half.

 The conditions dictated that this would not be a free flowing game and scores were hard to come by in the opening quarter with plenty of scrums and handling errors. Portlaoise competed hard at the breakdown and this brought great reward but the deadlock was eventually broken with a Jayden Boshoff penalty on 16 minutes. 

The Laois side responded quickly with a three pointer of their own but Longford were first to cross the whitewash on 24 minutes with veteran prop Dylan Quinn burrowing over from all of 3 yards. Boshoff added the extras.

 Longford appeared to have command of the game and looked the more threatening but a mistimed pass in midfield resulted in an old-fashioned foot rush. Kyle Kenny used his speed to get back but the ball fell into the hands of the visitors and they crossed the line untouched to level the score once again. The home team had an opportunity to lead going into half-time but the kick into the wind was short.

Longford now had the advantage of the elements in the second half and used them to good effect with Ryan McHugh pushing the visitors back into their 22. 

Longford won the lineout and drove forward with Seamus McKeown to the fore but a handling error just short of the line seemed to have killed the opportunity. 

Sharp play by the excellent Robbie Shaw resulted in him snaffling the ball at the base of the Laois men’s scrum and the unstoppable Daire O’Brien crashed through the defence after a couple of phases. There seemed to be some confusion as to whether the conversion was good but the referee ruled it wide.

This should have been the point at which the home team closed out the game but Portlaoise weren’t willing to lie down. Longford looked to be on the attack but a well read intercept saw the visitors race into the 22.

 An excellent covering tackle from Kyle Kenny slowed their progress and another great tackle by Daithi Connolly seemed to have nullified the threat but Portlaoise regrouped and scored from close in. The conversion was missed but the teams were level and the supporters were wondering if they would survive extra-time with the cold biting hard. 

Fortunately the additional time was not needed as Longford took back control. Boshoff and McHugh used the elements to great advantage with McHugh kicking a couple of excellent 50/22’s. 

Portlaoise  tried to respond but one such kick found its way to the excellent Shane Farrell who exchanged passes with Boshoff before bursting through the defence and was halted in the opposition ’22. 

Daire O’Brien ran a good support line and received the pop pass from Farrell before driving through some tacklers to score on 67 minutes. The conversion left the home team with a little breathing room but the job wasn’t done yet.

Longford had to withstand a long period of Portlaoise attack, losing a man to the bin, but that seemed to galvanise the group and they eventually cleared their lines. Another towering Boshoff kick set the alarm bells off in the defence and Ronan Bleakley was first to react, grabbing the ball before giving a lovely basketball pass to Kyle Kenny, allowing him to race into the corner. 

The conversion was just wide but the tie was now settled and the home team put a bit of gloss on the scoreline when McHugh set up a lineout deep in enemy territory with a beautiful 50/22. It fell to that man, Daire O’Brien, to close out the try scoring with another bullocking run, scattering defenders before dotting down. Boshoff added the 2 points to leave Longford in a clear lead in the finish. 

Longford were deserving winners but the scoreline doesn’t reflect how hard the Laois worked nor for how long they were in the contest. That’s cup rugby and the home team will be delighted to have got over the first hurdle, something that hasn’t happened for a number of years. 

It was no great shock when Daire O’Brien received the man of the match award but he had plenty of help with Nigel Reilly, Kevin Rogers and the ever reliable Seamus McKeown to the fore in the pack while Shaw and Boshoff controlled matters at 9 and 10. Shane Farrell was a constant threat with ball in hand while also covering the backfield well.

 The next cup opponents aren’t known at this stage but there is an exciting day's rugby in store next Sunday when the leaders of the 1st and 2nd leagues, Coolmine are visitors to Longford. 

It should result in two good battles.

 Longford Squad: Seamus McKeown, Ronan Collum, Dylan Quinn, Fred Davis, Andrew Beirne, Kevin Rogers, Nigel Reilly, Alan Crowe (C), Robbie Shaw, Jayden Boshoff, Ronan Bleakley, Ryan McHugh, Daithi Connolly, Scott O’Boyle, Shane Farrell.

Replacements: Barry Sullivan, Philly Prunty, Conor Craig, Daire O’Brien, Kyle Kenny.

At home to Coolmine in the Leinster League on Sunday

It’s back to Leinster League action this Sunday when both the Firsts and Seconds are at home to Coolmine who top both the J1 and J2 League tables. Coolmine Firsts will hope to continue their march to automatic promotion with a twelfth win out of twelve, but Longford are a vastly improved squad with a number of recent wins and good form coming into the game and Coolmine will have to earn their win it they are to maintain their unbeaten record.

In the Seconds League it’s “as you were” following the last set of fixtures two weeks ago, Coolmine and Longford both securing bonus point wins to remain first and second respectively with five points between them. Longford will host Coolmine with all to play for in a crunch game but Coolmine have a vastly superior points difference even if Longford were to emerge victorious.