Curraha 3-9  Longwood 3-21 

Curraha made their return to the Intermediate grade with a 12 point defeat at the hands of Longwood on bank holiday Sunday morning. In the end it was Longwood's fine second half performance which helped them come away with the 2 points in Round 1 of the Meade Potato Company intermediate football championship of 2025. Curraha with a relatively young side did however get to give championship debut starts to Kevin Doyle, Mylo Hussey, Dylan Rowland and Eoghan Burke

Curraha and Longwood made the journey to Dunganny for an early start of 11 o’clock. With the game originally fixed for 4pm in Trim the game was moved to 11 o'clock to accommodate supporters going to Croke Park. Both teams got proceedings underway on Dunganny's new pitch 6  which was in tip top condition on a fine summer morning perfect for football. 

Robert Purfield got the game underway shortly after 11 am and Longwood had the first possession which resulted in a wide from Meath goalie Billy Hogan who was lining out midfield. Curraha got the perfect start when Mark Fox produced a fine turnover on the halfway line and the ball was sent into Diarmuid Moriarty who passed the ball across the face of goal. Ruairí O’Sullivan flicked the ball towards goal and the ball rebounded back out to the waiting Podge O’Hanrahan who finished the ball to the back of the net. Longwood responded with their first score of the game with a point from Ciarán Sheridan after 5 minutes of play. Curraha were patient in attack early in proceedings with Seán Keogh and Dylan Rowland finding lots of ball on the wings. James McEntee delivered a long footpass into Diarmuid Moriarty who slid along the ground and collected the ball and popped the ball over the bar off his right. Longwood had more of the possession in the first half and got 4 unanswered points 2 from Ryan Moore, 1 of which was a free as well as a 2 pointer from Seán Coloe to leave Longwood a point in front after 10 minutes. Andrew Coyle made a darting run through the Longwood defence before laying the ball off to Podge O’Hanrahan who clipped over a point off his right to level proceedings. Longwood went back in front with a point from Mickey Burke. We had to wait till the 17th minute for our next score and it was a goal for Curraha. Similar to Curraha's first goal it came from a turnover in the Curraha defence after some fine defending and the ball was moved at speed along the wing. Diarmuid Moriarty gathered possession in the corner and passed the ball to Andrew Coyle who fisted a dangerous ball across the face of goal and the ball ended up in the Longwood net and was awarded as an own goal to give Curraha a 2 point lead. Curraha's next point came 4 minutes later with a 21 yard free after a Longwood breach. The free was fired over from the boot of Currahas number 9 Diarmuid Moriarty. Moriarty converted a similar free in the 27th minute after he was fouled while darting through the Longwood defence. Longwood got a point in between Moriarty's points from Niall Mulvey as well as 2 pointer from Ryan Moore. Curraha didn't let this Longwood response stop them from keeping their own score sheet ticking over and Curraha's full back Oisin Fay was carrying the ball up the field on numerous occasions and played the ball into Moriarty who was fouled along the wing and converted the resulting free. Longwood got the final score of the half with a point from Ciarán Sheridan to leave the minimum between the teams at halftime. 

HT- score: Curraha 2.05     Longwood 0.09 

Curraha introduced Neil Shortall for Mylo Hussey at halftime which was Shortall's first championship appearance in 2 years after suffering a serious knee injury against Na Fianna. As the second half began it was Longwoods fine 3rd quarter which helped them to victory with early scores from Mickey Burke and Brian Stagg. Curraha were reduced to 14 men in the 5th minute of the second half when Séamus Hogan was shown a very harsh black card. Longwood with the aid of a man extra found the back of the net through Damien Healy after the ball kindly fell to his feet after some fine Curraha defending. Longwood kept the pressure on Curraha and found the back of the net in the 9th minute with a goal from Harry Hogan as well as 2 further points to leave 9 between the sides. Curraha were dealt a further hammer blow 10 minutes into the second half when James McEntee was forced off through injury and Seán Ronan was introduced. Curraha raised a white flag in the 15th minute when Seán Ronan pointed. Curraha made 2 further subs when Jared Roche came on for Dylan Rowland and David Coyle came on for Conor O’Farrell. Unfortunately for Curraha the damage was done at the start of the second half but to their credit tried their best to keep in touch and Diarmuid Moriarty fired over a fine free before Séan Ronan raised Curraha's 3rd green flag of the afternoon. Longwood got further scores throughout the half. Currahas goalie Kevin Doyle produced some fine saves throughout the second half to prevent any further Longwood scores. Diarmuid Moriarty kicked a fine 2 pointer off his right with 5 minutes remaining in the half. 

A disappointing result for Curraha who were dealt blows throughout when being reduced to 14 men twice as well as losing players throughout to injury. Nevertheless Longwood were fully deserving of their victory. Curraha will have to dust themselves down and get ready for the meeting of Oldcastle on Thursday week in Pairc Tailteann with a throw-in time of 7:30 pm. 

Curraha team and scorers: Kevin Doyle, Eoghan Burke, Oisín Fay, Séamus Hogan, Dylan Rowland, Mark Fox, James McEntee, Brian Joyce, Diarmuid Moriarty 0.07(0.04F) 0.01tp, Podge O’Hanrahan 1.01, Mylo Hussey, Conor O’Farrell, Ruairí O’Sullivan, Andrew Coyle 1-0, Seán Keogh

Subs used: Neil Shortall for Mylo Hussey, Seán Ronan 0-1 for James McEntee, Jared Roche for Dylan Rowland and David Coyle for Conor O’Farrell 

Referee. Robert Purfield

Report: Ivan Keogh

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