Louth Hurlers humbled by Longford as their Lory Meagher defense begins with defeat

Longford 8-25   

Louth     3-19

The joyous scenes witnessed in Darver a few weeks ago as the Louth Hurlers won the Division 3B title in emphatic style seemed a distant memory on Saturday, as they were put to the sword by Longford by 21 points.

The Midlanders were new to the grade having been relegated last year from Nicky Rackard, but they have quickly put their stamp on the championship by beating the reigning champions while blasting home eight goals.

It was a wake-up call for Paul McCormack’s troops, it would be hard to name a team in the country that could back from conceding five goals in 13 minutes and from here on in, it was unfortunately about coming out of the contest with some form of pride.

It was one of the best displays of hurling from a Longford team who dominated proceedings from start to the finish. Their poor starts in the league had cost them dearly as they were relegated to 3B; on Saturday they took the game to Louth right from the start.

The lead at the break was 6-09 to 1-13 with Reuben Murray scoring a half-trick of goals. They didn’t let up in the second half with Daniel Connell and Martin Coyle getting a goal apiece.

John Mulhern got the game’s first score inside the opening minute. In the third minute Longford got their first goal; Joe O’Brien passed to Cathal Mullane and he found the back of the net with a fine finish.

Louth got a goal back in the fifth minute, a long high ball into the square found Evan Maher, who cushioned it into the path of David Kettle to blast home to leave it 1-2 to 1-0.

Unfortunately the home side struck back almost immediately, a Joe O’Brien free from midfield dropped short allowing Martin Coyle to get his hurl onto it and put it into the back of the net to restore their five point cushion.

By seven minutes Longford had their third, a fine diagonal ball found Rueben Murray in space, he beat his marker and slotted home at the second time of asking.

O’Brien and David Kettle traded points before Murray grabbed his second goal to extend Longford’s lead to 10 points in the 12th minute, The Wee County already having a mountain to climb and there was worse to come.

Two minutes later and from a puck-out David Buckley picked up possession, he raced through before shooting to the net for Longford’s fifth goal. O’Brien kept the scoreboard ticking over with nice points from play.

The Men in Red hit over a few points in a row from Feidhlim Joyce, Niall Keenan and Darren Geoghegan but just couldn’t eat too much into Longford’s lead. Bart Hanley hit over a terrific score from long range in the 33rd minute to restore Longford’s 10 point lead.

Enda Naughton did well to flick away the danger minutes later as Louth went in search of a second goal. In stoppage time Longford got a sixth goal; O’Brien set up Reuben Murray and he made no mistake. Louth hit over two late points as they trailed by 11 points at the break. 

The home side started the second half well and didn’t let up with the scoring. Substitute Daniel Connell hit over a fine point and that was followed by points from David Buckley and O’Brien.

O’Brien added three more points to his tally as Longford stretched their lead to 20 points by the second water break.

Naomh Moninne’s Darren Geoghegan was excellent from placed balls and he hit over two more frees, but The Wee County were already well beaten when Evan Maher got their second goal in the 55th minute, reacting well to a long range free to direct the sliotar from the skies into the net with a nice flick of the wrists.

David Buckley hit a superb sideline cut and that was followed by a goal from Daniel Connell after his initial shot had been saved.

There was time for another consolation goal for the visitors, Paul Matthews with a nice diagonal run teeing up Feidhlim Joyce who fired home a bullet to put a little more pride in the final score line.

It was day to forget for the Louth Hurlers, but they will not have long to linger on the loss, as they welcome Monaghan to Darver on Saturday.

Win and they are in with a shot at an automatic place in the Semi-finals, lose and their fate will be a quarter-final date with either Cavan or Fermanagh. After such a strong league campaign, only time will tell if Louth has the strength of will to bounce back and retain the Lory Meagher Cup.

Louth: Donal Connolly; Mark Wallace, Ronan Byrne, Stephen Kettle; Conor Quigley (0-1), Jamie McDonnell, Paddy Lynch; Niall Keenan (0-2), Darren O’Hanrahan (0-1); Ryan Walsh (0-1), Darren Geoghegan (0-10,0-9 frees), Thomas McCreesh; Feidhlim Joyce (1-2), Evan Maher (1-0), David Kettle (1-1). Subs: Peter Fortune for McDonnell and Paul Matthews for D Kettle (22), Adam Plunkett for Lynch (HT), Matthew Fee for Wallace (40), Andrew Mackin (0-1) for O’Hanrahan (59).

Longford: Conor Gallagher; Evan Tully, Enda Naughton, Gerard Moore; Bart Hanley (0-1), Karl Murray, Dwayne Sheedy; Joe O’Brien (0-12,0-4fs, 0-1’65), John Mulhern (0-2); Cathal Mullane (1-0), David Buckley (1-4,0-1sideline cut), Luke Kelly; Reuben Murray (3-2), Martin Coyle (2-0), Steven Creaven (0-2). Subs: Daniel Connell (1-2) for Mulhern (HT), Cian Kavanagh for Kelly and Cian McLoughlin for Tully (45), Adam Quinn (0-1) for Naughton (54).

Referee: Brian Keon (Galway)

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