SHC B: Longwood can take positive from defeat

Longwood's Anthony Healy

Longwood 2-10 Kilskyre/Moylagh 1-21

The group stages of the Senior B Hurling Championship concluded yesterday afternoon, and despite a valiant effort, Longwood went down to a strong Kilskyre/Moylagh outfit in Athboy. 

The North Meath combination have carried all before them in the group stages and maintained their 100% record in Championship 2026.  They will be red hot favourites for the final and will take some stopping.

Longwood were forced to field without a number of key players, a common theme throughout this season, but the players that took to the field can hold their heads high in the knowledge that they gave everything for the cause.

Young players Ronan Greene, Conor Dixon and William Phillips were prominent throughout the hour, while the more established warriors of Joey Stenson, Bob Maguire and Sean Sheridan led by example, working tirelessly and pressurising their opponent at every turn.

The concession of too many frees is one thing that will need to be addressed but it’s difficult to be overly critical given the quality of the opposition. 

After a cagey opening ten minutes, Kilskyre/Moylagh pushed clear with a run of unanswered points before Longwood rallied with a couple of excellent long range scores from play courtesy of Ryan Moore and Anthony Healy.  Even so, they trailed by seven points at the break on a scoreline of 0-12 to 0-5.

A goal from Kevin Heagney ten minutes into the second half gave Longwood a ray of hope but they could not reduce the deficit any further despite maintaining a very high work rate.  The teams exchanged late goals, Longwood’s an excellent finish from Ross Healy.  

Final score: Kilskyre/Moylagh 1-21 Longwood 2-10

So, a disappointing result for Longwood but they can certainly take positives from the performance which was much improved on previous rounds.  It was hard to know what to feel at the final whistle as players and supporters scrambled for information on the other group games; when news finally filtered through the upshot is that Longwood have managed to qualify for the semi-finals by way of score difference.   

Special mention to young James Cully who made his senior championship debut, coming on in the second half and cruelly denied a debut score as his attempted point rebounded off the posts.  Well done James – don’t worry there will be plenty of points in the future!

Longwood: Mark Kennedy (Capt.) Ronan Greene, Sean Sheridan, Bob Maguire, Ryan Moore (0-1), Joey Stenson, Conor Dixon, Anthony Healy (0-9), Gavin Griffith, Conor M Dixon, Thomas Dorran, Sean Coloe, William Phillips, Kevin Heagney (1-0), Tomás O’Brien.  Subs: Malachy Fisher for Thomas Dorran, James Cully for Bob Maguire, Ross Healy (1-0) for William Phillips, Quin Fisher for Conor M Dixon, Sean Kelly for Sean Coloe.

After playing championship for seven consecutive weekends, the boys can have a well-deserved rest next weekend before building back up to a semi-final with Dunderry on Sunday, 27th September.  Another day awaits………..