The Longford U21 footballers, under the guidance of Luke Dempsey, Declan Rowley and Eugene McCormack, were crowned the Hastings Cup U-21 Football Competition winners for the second year in a row on Friday night of last week in a cracking conclusion to the Longford run competition, when they registered a slender one point victory over a gallant Cavan outfit. By Ray Donlon Longford 1-11 Cavan 0-13 Brian Kavanagh proved too be the Longford matchwinner when holding his nerve 3-minutes into stoppage time in the second half when landing over the bar a wonderfully struck matchwinning point from a long range free which sealed this memorable victory for the boys in 'blue and gold' in front of a large crowd at the Longford Slashers grounds. And, it was the eventual winners that got off to a flying start with less than 1-minute gone on the clock when the lively Enda Gallagher gave off a good pass to Francis McGee who rounded his man and fired over a well struck point from play while less than 2-minutes later the outstanding Longford captain Shane Mulligan made a fine individual run down the centre of the field and shot over the bar an excellent point from play with Mulligan one of Longford's best players on the night when working extremely hard all over the field. Cavan, who lost to Longford the previous Friday night at the Slashers grounds by four points in the final round game of the competition, opened their account with 6-minutes gone on the clock when Cian Mackey pointed a well taken long range free while less than 1-minute later Cavan made it a draw contest when Paul Brady fired over a fabulous point from play when letting Longford know they were in a game. Longford then went ahead by a slender point in the 16th minute when Peter Foy, after a good run by the fine Cashel player, landed over the bar a wonderfully struck point from play from an extremely difficult angle. Cavan then took the lead for the first time in the contest when they fired over points back to back with Cian Mackey and Alan O'Riordan slotting over good efforts from play. The worthy Man of the Match recipient and the fine prospect in Padraig Berry was once again in the thick of the action with 22-minutes gone on the clock when he made a wonderful run down the field and laid off a well timed ball to Francis McGee who fired the ball to the back of the net while it did take slight deflection off the Cavan back Ronan Flanaghan on rout to goals. Cavan then replied with three further points on the trot with Lorcan Mulvey, John McCabe and Peter Monaghan landing over points each with Cavan once again going in front by a solitary point. However, Longford came back with two more scores before the break with Brian Kavanagh converting a well taken long range free in the 28th minute while Colm Flynn pointed a good effort from play just before the break leaving the home side ahead by a slender point at half-time on a scoreline of 1-5 to 0-7. On the changeover Longford opened the scoring early on when the brilliant Francis McGee pointed a good effort from play. However, it didn't the determined Cavan boys' long to reply when less than 1-minute later Cian Mackey converted a well taken close range free when bringing a solitary point between the sides once again in what was turning out to be an extremely tight contest. Both sides then exchanged scores with Brian Kavanagh converting a well taken close range free for Luke Dempsey's charges while Cian Mackey shot over the bar an excellent effort for the Breffni boys'. Longford then widened the gap to two points in the 45th minute when Longford's chief marksman on the night Brian Kavanagh smacked over a good close range free. Cavan, who kept plugging away and coming back at Longford, replied with the next point of this pulsating and closely contested encounter when Cian Mackey landed over an excellent effort from play to narrow the margin to a solitary point once again with the boys in 'blue and white' recording some well taken scores throughout this exciting Hastings Cup decider. Longford substitute Sean McCormack was unlucky not to have recorded Longford's second goal of the game in the 47th minute when the Cavan net-minder Charlie Halligan pulled off an excellent point-blank save while Francis McGee put the home side in front by two points 1-minute later when smacking over the bar a lovely effort from play. However, a resilient Cavan outfit made it a draw contest once again with points back to back from Cian Mackey and inspirational substitute Dermot McGlade of Arvagh. Longford took the lead once again with 6-minutes left on the clock when the outstanding Brian Kavanagh converted an excellently struck long rang free. Cavan then brought it back to a draw contest once again in a tense finish when Cavan's chief marksman on the night Cian Mackey once again made no mistake when the Castle Rahan clubman pointed a well taken long range free. With 2-minutes injury time played Longford had the chance to seal this memorable victory when Luke Dempsey's charges were awarded a long range free, however, a well struck shot from the accurate Brian Kavanagh dropped short and was cleared by the Cavan defence while less than 1-minute later Brian Kavanagh pointed the Longford matchwinner when converting a wonderfully struck long range free which brought proceedings to a close after a fabulous climax to the Hastings Cup. LONGFORD: Damien O'Connor; Kevin Moran, Barry Gilleran, Noel Farrell; Shane Mulligan (capt, 0-1), Kevin Donohue, Peter Foy (0-1); Fergus Kelly, Bernard McElvaney; Kevin Smith, Brian Kavanagh (0-5, all frees), Padraig Berry; Enda Gallagher, Colm Flynn (0-1), Francis McGee (1-3). SUBS USED:- Sean McCormack for F. Kelly, Diarmuid Masterson for K. Donohue (both half-time); John O'Shea for C. Flynn (44 mins); Enda Williams for S. McCormack (42 mins). CAVAN: Charlie Halligan; Cillian Reilly, Ciaran Sheils, Ronan Flanaghan; Dermot Sheridan, Finbar Jordan, Declan McCabe; Lorcan Mulvey (0-1), Paul Brady (0-1); Cian Mackey (0-7, four frees), Alan Clarke, Alan O'Riordan (0-1); John McCabe (0-1), Peter Monaghan (0-1, free), Aaron Duignan. SUBS USED:- Paul Smith for A. O'Riordan (29 mins); Emmet Daly for C. Reilly, Dermot McGlade for D. McCabe (both half-time); Cormac Geoghan for J. McCabe (40 mins); Sean Magee for C. Shields (45mins). REFEREE: Declan Hunt (Roscommon). Man of the Match: Padraig Berry (Longford). Tweet

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