Longford Senior Football Championship: Mullinalaghta conquer Clonguish at the second attempt to remain on course to retain the Connolly Cup
Peter Hanley Motors Senior Football Championship Semi-Final Replay
Mullinalaghta St Columba’s . . . 0-15 Clonguish . . . 0-8
Many felt that the underdogs Clonguish had blown a glorious opportunity after letting victory slip from their grasp the previous week and so it proved as St Columba’s experienced little difficulty to come out on top in the disappointing semi-final replay at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Saturday evening.
Having said that, the absence of Paul Barden (unavailable to feature in the match due to personal reasons) was a major blow for Clonguish who were also forced to field without injured key defender Ronan Sweeney with Kevin Burke also on the casualty list.
St Columba’s were in control in virtually every position on the pitch and the Connolly Cup holders were well on the road to another appearance in the title decider at the break, at which stage they had built up a commanding 0-10 to 0-3 lead.
MULLINALAGHTA ST COLUMBA’S: Patrick Rogers; Patrick Fox, Donal McElligott (0-1), Simon Cadam; Francis Mulligan, Shane Mulligan (0-1), Conan Brady (0-1); John Keegan (0-1), Ruairi McElligott; Gary Rogers, Rian Brady (0-1), David McGivney (0-2); Jayson Matthews (0-6, two frees), James McGivney (0-1), Conor McElligott (0-1).
Subs:- Aidan McElligott for R McElligott (44 mins); Michael Cunningham for C McElligott (54 mins).
CLONGUISH: Stephen Watters; Benny Devine, Darren Quinn, Anthony Watters; Stephen McLoughlin, Conor Shields, Daniel McHugh; Peter Hanley, Paddy Dowd; Chris Gordon, Shane O’Brien, Stephen Norton; Joe O’Brien (0-5, four frees), David Barden (0-2), Ciaran Williams.
Subs:- David Faughnan for C Gordon (30 mins); Gerry Moore for P Dowd (injured, 32 mins); Neil Devlin for B Devine (34 mins); Colin Farrell (0-1) for S O’Brien (36 mins); Francie Molloy for D McHugh (47 mins); John O’Brien for A Watters (57 mins).
Referee: Gerard Egan (St Mary’s Granard).
Full match report in the Longford Leader, on sale on Wednesday