Longwood 4-10  St Colmcille's 3-8

Longwood’s footballers rebounded from a run of three defeats with a much-needed win against St Colmcille’s on Sunday morning.

Despite playing against a stiff breeze, Longwood started brightly, a pair of Ryan Moore points sandwiching a opportunist goal from Adrian Maguire to give them an early advantage.  But from this point, the visitors from east Meath took control and dominated the remainder of the opening half.  They banged in three goals in a five minute period midway through the half and appeared to be in total control.  Longwood didn’t help themselves, some sloppy mistakes and turnovers gifting possession to their opponents who were only too happy to capitalise.

A run of three successive points in the closing minutes gave the Cilles a 3-5 to 1-4 advantage at the break.

With the wind at their backs for the second period, all was not lost, but Longwood would have to improve significantly. And improve they did, though not immediately.  It took six minutes to trouble the scoreboard operator, but the opening score was well worth the wait. Ryan Moore gained possession near the left sideline and launched a two-point missile between the posts. A score that wouldn’t have been out of place in O’Moore Park later in the afternoon!

The orange flag was raised and Longwood were energised. They were now getting a foothold in the middle of the field and crucially their defence had tightened up considerably. That said, it took a stunning double save from Sandijs Buls to deny the visitors what looked a certain goal and prevent the momentum from  shifting back to the Cilles.

The goalkeeper’s heroics seemed to inspire his team mates and Longwood would register the next three scores, two of which were goals.  The first, another tidy finish from Adrian Maguire after a Josh Meagher piledriver had rebounded off the crossbar. The second, a clinical finish from Moore after he had been found by a precise Sean Sheridan pass.

Longwood had taken the lead and they would not surrender it.

Another two-pointer from the imperious Moore and a late goal from Gavin Griffith proved to be the insurance scores and two precious league points had been secured.

A critical win for Longwood and despite a poor opening half, they performed well when they needed to.  One of the most pleasing aspects of the victory was the impact of the bench, all of the substitutes making an important contribution when introduced.   

Longwood: Sandijs Buls, Mark Kennedy, Bob Maguire, Sean Carpenter, Ciaran Sheridan, Tomás O’Brien (Capt.) Cian O’Sullivan, Sean Sheridan, Harry Hogan, Gavin Griffith (1-0), Anthony Healy (0-1), David Coloe, Ben McLoughlin, Ryan Moore (1-8), Adrian Maguire (2-0). Subs: Conor Dixon for Kennedy, Brian Stagg (0-1) for O’Sullivan, Conor M Dixon for McLoughlin, Josh Meagher for Coloe, Sam King for Griffith, Niall Mulvey, Kevin Maguire 

Next up for the footballers is a difficult trip to Slane on Leinster Final day.  In the meantime, our senior hurlers will host St Fechin’s on Saturday in round 3 of the league.

A special word of thanks to our U7 and U9 footballers who cheered the players on/off the pitch at Sunday's game.  They also entertained the spectators when demonstrating their considerable skills in a half-time mini game.  Well done to all these fantastic young players and their dedicated coaches.

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