Missed chances costly as unlucky Clonguish exit Leinster
AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship First Round
While a lot of lost pride was restored in Longford football with courageous Clonguish coming so close to causing a major upset in the Leinster Club Championship, The Downs called on all their vast experience to eventually come out on top by a couple of points in a thriller at TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar on Sunday.
Four points behind at the break (2-7 to 0-9) with Luke Loughlin and Michael Moloney scoring the crucial goals for the strongly fancied Westmeath champions, Clonguish came storming back in the second half with their slick attacking style posing a lot of problems for the opposing defence.
A well-taken goal from James Hagan in the 44th minute after the other dangerous corner-forward Cormac Flynn had flicked the ball against the crossbar left the sides all square and a surprise result was becoming a possibility when Matthew Carey shot over the bar moments later to leave Clonguish in front: 1-15 to 2-11.
The tense and exciting ding-dong battle continued for the remainder of this highly entertaining first round clash but the Downs refused to panic in adding another six points to their emphatic winning tally which included a decisive two-pointer free from Luke Loughlin in the 55th minute.
Clonguish were restricted to just three more scores in the final quarter of this pulsating encounter, a brace (play and free) from chief marksman Michael Flynn (0-10) with his brother Cormac also on target.
Two points down against the shaken Westmeath outfit with time almost up, the underdogs tried to engineer a dramatic winning goal in the second minute of stoppage time but the shot from Michael Flynn was blocked as the ball was diverted out for a fruitless ‘45.
No Longford club has succeeded in winning a game in the Leinster Club Senior Championship since the mighty Mullinalaghta claimed a historic provincial triumph back in 2018 and the talented young Clonguish side left Mullingar in the knowledge that they could have ended that poor run of results.
Missed chances proved costly with Jack Duggan failing to convert a couple of great goal chances in the first half with his lightning pace ripping The Downs defence apart in a game that was there for the taking.
Clonguish looked like scoring every time they launched an attack but it was not to be for the Longford champions who produced a terrific display in giving The Downs a fierce fright and their shrewd manager Dom Corrigan deserves a lot of credit for the excellent job he is doing with the Newtownforbes outfit.
THE DOWNS: Trevor Burke; Eanna Burke, Josh Murtagh, Peter Murray; Jonathan Lynam (0-1), Ciaran Nolan, Michael Moloney (1-3); Lorcan Mullen, Charlie Drumm; Oisin Loughlin, Ian Martin (0-2), Billy Moffatt; Luke Loughlin (1-4, 1 two-pointer free), Niall Mitchell (0-2, two-pointer from play), Tom Tuite (0-4).
Subs:- Kevin O’Sullivan (0-1) for Oisin Loughlin (47 mins); Andrew Brennan for P Murray (54 mins).
CLONGUISH: Declan McKenna; Jonathan Burke, Ronan Sweeney, Christopher Gordon; Andrew Flynn, Conor Smith, Mark Cooney; Peter Hanley, Matthew Carey (0-3); Kevin Baskett (0-2), Jamie Dorr (0-1), Jack Duggan; James Hagan (1-1), Michael Flynn (0-10, brace of two-pointer frees, 5 frees, 1 play), Cormac Flynn (0-1).
Subs:- Ross Shields for K Baskett (47 mins); Daniel Carey for J Burke (56 mins).
Referee: Colm McCullough (Louth).