Longford advance in Towns CupLongford 1st XV had an impressive 19-7 win over Gorey in the first round of the Newstalk Provincial Towns Cup at the Demesne.

A first half try from Paul Gallogly set up the win, with the boot of Colm Glynn adding vital scores through conversion, drop goal and penalties.

At the centre o Longford's win was a very good all-round team performance, with commitment to the rucks and good hands in the backline. 

When the two sides met earlier in the season it was Longford who came away from Gorey with an impressive 27-14 win, but the Wexford side came to the Demesne on the back of good form, with three wins on the trot.

 With that firmly in the mind, Longford started the game brightly and quickly settled into a pattern. However, despite dominating the opening 25 minutes, they were just 3-0 ahead, thanks to a Colm Glynn penalty. 

Just as Longford were building another attacking move outside the Gorey 22, the visiting winger intercepted a pass and raced away to score a breakaway try, very much against the run of play. The conversion, from in front of the posts, was succesful. 

Longford's response was impressive. A backline move saw Ciaran Kennedy make impressive ground on the right wing. The ball was fed back and another drive saw Longford bring the ball to in front of the Gorey posts.

A third move saw the ball whipped out the right again and Paul Gallogly was there to over for a well-deserved try. Glynn added the two points with an excllent conversion, five metres from the touchline. 

Glynn added another penalty before the break to give Longford a solid 13-7 lead at half-time.The second half was more even as Gorey tried to work their way back into the game, but it was Longford who always held the edge.

Glynn cleverly nudged Longford even further in front with a drop goal from 30 metres, to put his side 16-7 in front. 

Gorey's response almost brought about a try. They worked the phases well and were on the Longford line when they went wide and looked to have got a try in the corner, but excellent defence from Longford saw the Gorey player put a foot on the line before he touched down. 

Longford made sure of the win in the final ten minutes with another penalty from Colm Glynn.It's back to league action next Sunday for Longford, with a trip to Athy - kick-off is at 3pm. 

Longford: John Duffy, Ronan Keith, Fran Deffew; Dan Connery, Michael Murphy; Kevin Coffey, Keith Richardson, Paul Gallogly; Dane Costello, Colm Glynn; Dermot McGlade, Derek Bannon, Gary Greene, Ciaran Kennedy; Gareth Johnston. Subs: Andy Hall for Connery; Stephen Carroll for Duffy; Derek Farrell for Murphy. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE LONGFORD LEADER INTERVIEW WITH 1ST XV COACH COLM GLYNN AFTER THE MATCH.