Longford SFC: Abbeylara advance to the semi-final after sinking Slashers

Abbeylara…. 2-15 Longford Slashers…. 1-11

By Blaithin Mulvihill

Abbeylara advanced to meet reigning champions Killoe in the Senior Football Championship semi-final following a seven point victory over Longford Slashers at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Saturday evening.

Despite being warm favourites to progress, the 2024 champions (minus injured trio Bryan Masterson, Cian Brady and Colin Gilna) found an enthusiastic Slashers team very difficult to break down. Abbey dominated most of the first half and had established a four point lead by the 27th minute.

But a Slashers five point flurry, including a brilliant Seán Clarke goal on the stroke of half-time, had the sky blues 1-6 to 0-8 ahead and Abbeylara were a little shellshocked going in at the break in their bid to avoid a surprise defeat.

On the resumption a quick Mícheál Mulcahy point for Slashers further ratcheted up the pressure on the pre-game favourites. They responded admirably and when Cathal Gilligan blasted home a superb goal in the 42nd minute they led from there until the finish.

Abbeylara opened the scoring with a RobbieSmyth free in the 2nd minute. Goalkeeper Eóin McGuinness got the sky blues up and running a few minutes later when he came forward to slot a two-pointer free from distance.

Points from Gilligan (0-2) and Ciaran Scanlon followed by Slashers scores from Robbie Clarke (free) and a neat point from the overlapping defender Peter Lynn had the sides all square 0-4 apiece after 18 minutes.

For the next ten minutes Abbeylara established control and reeled off points from the impressive Scanlon (0-3, 1 free) and Gilligan (0-1) to build up a four point lead approaching the break.

However, Slashers hadn’t read the script and responded with another Lynn point and 1-1 from Sean Clarke leaving Conor Clarke's charges, despite being outplayed for most of the half, leading by a point: 1-6 to 0-8.

The second half saw both teams trade scores early on with Mícheál Mulcahy and Robbie Clarke (free) pointing for Slashers and Ciaran Scanlon keeping Abbeylara in touch.

Moments later a brilliant Caolán Lynch long pass found the excellent Gilligan on the edge of the square and he dispatched the ball to the net to give Abbeylara the lead. A point from the same player two minutes later extended the advantage and when substitute Jason Kelly got a goal in the 50th minute, the game was slipping away from the town side.

A huge two-pointer from Caolán Lynch and a fisted Kelly point stretched the Abbey lead to six points with full-time fast approaching.

Slashers, to their credit, kept battling to the finish with their only reward being points from Ronan Sheahan (Jnr) and Robbie Clarke (0-2,free & play), the latter followed a brilliant Bernard Crawford save from a Daire O’Brien piledriver.

Abbeylara closed out the game with a point from young Dylan Ledwith before Robbie Smyth finished as he started with a pointed free for the North Longford side ensuring safe passage to the last four of this year’s Championship.

Frankie Dolan's side now face defending champions Killoe for a place in the 2026 County Final. The champions of the last two years will go head to head in two weeks time in what should be an intriguing semi-final.

ABBEYLARA: Barney Crawford, Daniel Mickelson, Cian O’Reilly, Fergal Battrim, Michael McHugh, Karl O’Hara, Matthew Quinn, Caolan Lynch (0-2, two-pointer), Ciaran Scanlon (0-5, 1 free), Cathal Gilligan (1-4), Sean Fagan, Dylan Ledwith (0-1), Robbie Smyth (0-2, frees), Mel Brady, Padraig Berry.

Subs: Colm P Smyth for M Brady (half-time), Jason Kelly (1-1) for P Berry (47 mins), Reece Reilly for M Quinn (53 mins), Nigel Rabbitt for K O’ Hara (59 mins), JJ Reilly for C O’Reilly (60 mins).

LONGFORD SLASHERS: Eoin McGuinness (0-2, two-pointer free), Paddy Duggan, Ronan Sheahan Snr, Ronan Kenny, Ben Lynn, Sean Morgan, Peter Lynn (0-2), Barry Gilleran, Billy Maguire, Sean Clarke (1-1), Robbie Clarke (0-4, 3 frees), Gareth McQuaid, Darragh O’Connell, Mícheál Mulcahy (0-1), Ronan Sheahan Jnr (0-1).

Subs: Zach Coyle Clyne for P Duggan (47 mins), Tadhg McNevin for R Sheahan Jnr (47 mins), James Shannon for B Lynn (53 mins), Daire O’Brien for G McQuaid (57 mins), Sean Tiernan for R Sheahan Snr (60 mins).

Referee: David Tiernan (Ardagh Moydow).