Longford SHC Final: Clonguish Gaels overcome Slashers to complete two-in-a-row title triumph
Senior Hurling Championship Final
Clonguish Gaels . . . 2-14 Longford Slashers . . . 1-14
In a repeat of last year’s final with Slashers seeking revenge, there was just no stopping Clonguish Gaels (minus the injured Paul Barden jnr) and the reigning champions were well on the way to completing the two-in-a-row after producing a strong first half display.
Thanks to goals from captain Stephen Gregg and Bart Hanley, the latter coming out of retirement to play a major role in the county final, Clonguish Gaels held a commanding eight point lead (2-10 to 1-5) at the break.
Michael Mulcahy scored the goal for sluggish Slashers but they improved considerably on the changeover with a succession of scores from Reuben Murray gradually closing the gap.
Clonguish Geels led by 2-10 to 1-10 midway through the second half before Joe O’Brien fired over a badly needed point and they managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over during the remainder of the match.
The sides shared a total of eight points in the final quarter and Slashers were unable to engineer another goal in the hope of salvaging the situation as the match dragged on into the seventh minute of stoppage time.
It was a very resilient team performance from Clonguish Gaels with the always tenacious Gerry Moore winning the player of the match award.
CLONGUISH GAELS: Eanna Daly; Michael Devlin, Oisin Gately, Padraig McGuinnes; Raymond O’Brien, Joe O'Brien (0-5, 4f), David Gregg; Gerry Moore, Declan Lee; Dan Crossan (0-1), Stephen Gregg (1-2, 2f), Conor Carroll; Matthew Flynn (0-2), Bart Hanley 1-3), Ciaran Corcoran (0-1).
Sub:- Brian Brady for C Corcoran (42 mins).
LONGFORD SLASHERS: Noel Dunne; Rory Maher, Karl Murray, Coilin Regan; Daire Regan, Johnny Casey, Kealan Cox; Reuben Murray (0-8, 7f), Ronan Sheahan (0-1); Darragh Caslin, David Buckley (0-3, 1 f), Eoin Donnellan (0-1); Micheal Mulcahy (1-1), David Harney, Matthew Hawes.
Subs:- Diarmaid Caslin for C Regan (22 mins); Iarlatih Dolan for Darragh Caslin (26 mins); Cian Kavanagh for M Hawes (37 mins); Ronan Kelly for R Shehan (injured, 54 mins).
Referee: Francis Kelly (Carrickedmond).