U15 Cup Quarter Final  

Longford 5 Tullamore 7 

Longford hosted Tullamore in this Under 15 Cup quarter final at the Demesne on Saturday. Conditions on the day were perfect for what was to prove to be a good open game despite the shortage of scores. This was a testament to both defences with the home team and the visitors willing to put their bodies on the line to deny the opposition scores.

Longford suffered a serious blow to their chances before a ball was kicked when our play-maker, Cormac Hughes was ruled out. The squad was also missing Killian Bartley and Kevin Quinn due to injury. We wish them all a speedy recovery.

The two teams met in the Leinster League in January and there was the slimmest of margins between them with Longford getting a late try to take the points. On this occasion, it was Tullamore who went home cheering.

The game kicked off with the visitors playing with the wind advantage which they put to good use pinning the home team into their own half. The twin towers in the Tullamore line-out supplied their pacey backs with a good supply of ball.

Attack after attack was knocked back and it looked like the home team would hold out until half time when the speedy Tullamore fullback collected a kick and raced through a gap to dot down under the posts. The conversion was added as the half time whistle sounded.

Longford knew that they had the fire-power in the pack to upset the visitors and each of the pack bashed the ball up making good ground. The home team reached the visitors line on a number of occasions but a mixture of good defence and over eagerness led to chances being missed.

Eventually, the pressure told when a ruck close to the line saw the ball moved wide where Paddy Heslin was taken out in the act of scoring. The referee went under the posts to award a penalty try.

There then followed a rather bizarre couple of minutes when the conversion hit the post and bounced wide. The referee then awarded a retake due to an infringement by the Tullamore players. However, the retake went wide leaving the visitors leading by two.

There was still time to play but the Longford lads were unable to get sufficient ball or field position to get a score and the visitors celebrated at the final whistle winning on a score line of 7-5.

It was a great disappointment for the Longford lads who had worked extremely hard throughout the season but the supply of ball coming from the line-out together with the pace of their backs meant that Tullamore probably deserved the victory.

The Longford squad can be really proud of the fight they put up with every player battling to the end especially captain Thomas Kennedy who has led this team through his commitment in every game this season.

Another feature of the game was the covering tackling of Shane Murtagh who prevented a number of tries while in the pack Joe Bennett, Gary Carroll, Tony Lawerence and a real warrior, Lochlainn McDonnell never took a backward step.

There were a number of new additions during the year namely Andrew Beirne, Luke Kelly, Keith Molihan, Shane Murtagh and Jordan Mulvihill and it has been enjoyable to see how they have progressed and integrated with those playing for a number of years.

And so the season ends. The squad has made progress though silverware continues to elude them. It's only a matter of time. All players will be notified of the date for the awards night.

The coaches would like to thank those that have assisted the squad during the year especially all the parents for your commitment, to Maria for all her work and to those that have refereed games for us, Trevor and Steve.

Longford:

Joe Bennett,  Tony Lawerence Thomas Kennedy, Lochlainn McDonnell,  James Compton,Shane Rogers, Patrick Heslin, James Heffernan, Ben Lloyd, Keelan Beirne, Kurtis Tomkins, Gary Carroll, David Geelan, Jordan Mulvihill, Eoin Devine-O'Grady, Andrew Beirne, Luke Kelly, Owen Lloyd, Shane Murtagh, Andrew Farrell.