SEMI-FINAL WEEKEND FOR 3 YOUTH’S TEAMS

Last weekend saw 3 underage teams in Leinster semi-final action. The U13 in the Leinster McGowan Cup against Athy, the U14’s in the Leinster plate semi-final against Edenderry and the U15’s in the Leinster Plate semi-final against Carlow.

First up on Friday evening was the Under 15’s against a fancied Carlow side played in Mullingar. A game of 2 halves saw Longford shock the Carlow Premiership side and race into a 24-0 lead only to be hauled back to 24-24 with minutes left on the clock. A penalty on the stroke of full time gave Longford the win but it was an enthralling game for the large Longford contingent that travelled. A full match report is below.

Saturday morning saw the U13’s make the long trip to Portlaoise to take on Athy in the Leinster Cup semi-final. Athy took an early lead that Longford didn’t manage to close effectively and despite a final quarter surge went down by 5 points – 15 to 20. A great cup run for our youngest youth team and it has been a while since any youth side made it this far in a cup competition.

Our final game was against Edenderry in Edenderry on Sunday morning – The U14’s playing in the Plate semi-final took the game to Edenderry and were by far the stronger side. They led all through the game only to be denied in the final minute by an Edenderry try. The final score 22-25 could not have been tighter.

So the U15’s travel to Donnybrook on Monday next for the Plate semi-final which will bring the curtain down on the season.

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Longford RFC Youths AGM

The Youth’s AGM will be held in the club on Wednesday 3rd May at 8 PM. All members and parents are encouraged to attend.

Longford RFC Youth’s Awards 

The Youth’s Awards will be held in the club on Monday 1st May at 4 PM. Awards will be presented to players from U13 up to U18 as well as the coveted Overall Youth Player of the Year.

Youth’s Results 

Longford U13 15 Athy 20

Longford U14 22 Edenderry 25

Longford U15 27 Carlow 24

Match Reports;

U15 Leinster Plate Semi-Final

Longford U15 27 Carlow 24

Having played virtually all the rugby in the first half, and having built a commanding 24 – 0 lead, Longford’s Under 15’s almost threw it away with a somewhat disjointed and ill-disciplined second half performance when Carlow, to their credit, fought back to be level 24 – 24 with time up on the clock only for Shane Mallon to secure victory with a successful penalty kick in the fifth minute of injury time. What almost cost victory was the concession of a succession of penalties at the breakdown and a lack of composure at crucial times when patience and safety first should have been the order of the day.

Against this, however, the rugby played in the first half was out of the top drawer and four tries, two of which were converted, was just reward for a dominant performance. Apart from the last five minutes of the half, Carlow hardly got their hands on the ball. During the final couple of minutes they camped themselves on or near Longford’s line but the defensive shift which Longford put in during the closing minutes of the half was every bit as satisfying as the quality of the rugby and the tries which proceeded it.

Longford’s early domination was rewarded with only five minutes on the clock, Longford gaining ground with a penalty kick into the Carlow 22 when their big No 8 was penalised for holding on to possession at the breakdown. J J Jackson started and finished the move, his clean catch and drive in the lineout was followed by two rucks and he then took the pass for a try in the corner. From resulting the kick off Longford pounced again when Dylan Fay took the restart cleanly and, once again, a series of rucks saw Longford gained valuable ground. When the ball emerged from the third or fourth ruck the Carlow defence were in some disarray but it still took a fine piece of individual play from Shane Mallon to bag his first try of the day with a touchdown beneath the posts.

A somewhat shell-shocked Carlow side fell further behind with two more tries in the 11th and 14th minutes. Again, it was good rucking and carrying from, in particular, Maks Napieralski, Ciaran McCormack and J J Jackson which created the platform for Longford and it was the cleaning out and rucking technique from Ciaran Shannon, Conor Cox and Dylan Fay in particular which ensured the ball was recycled quickly. Once again, it was Shane Mallon who capitalised on the hard work done by the pack when he bagged his second of the day wide out on the right. Things got even better for Longford in the 14th minute when Carlow were pressurised into conceded a five metre scrum and Ciaran McCormack took full advantage with a clean break and with the extra points from the conversion attempt secured Longford were a somewhat incredible 24 points ahead with just over 15 minutes gone. There was little between the sides for the remainder of the half although worrying signs began to emerge when Longford were penalised on a couple of occasions for unnecessary infringements at the breakdown when deep in Carlow territory. Having worked their way up field Carlow laid siege to the Longford line but a colossal defensive effort which was every bit as good as the attacking display produced earlier kept the line intact.

In fairness to Carlow, however, they took the game to Longford in the second period and took every try scoring opportunity which came their way. Their cause was aided by a lack of concentration on Longford’s part (perhaps thinking that the job was done), and the concession of something in the region of 14 penalties over the course of the half. Longford also suffered a sin binning for a high tackle which didn’t help their cause. Over the course of the half Carlow scored four tries of their own and with two converted the sides were tied at 24 – 24 with a replay looming. For the first time in the half, however, and with the clock ticking down, Longford secured a foothold in the Carlow 22 and a bout of pressure eventually pressurised their defence into conceding a penalty and while it was in a reasonably favourable position it still took bottle and nerves of steel for Shane Mallon to kick it between the posts for the deciding score in the 6th minute of injury time.

In the other semi-final, Dundalk overcame Wexford and the final will be held in Donnybrook on the Bank Holiday Monday, 1st May, with a kick off at 3:00 p.m.

Squad: Gary Kenny, Mark McHugh, Ciaran Shannon, J J Jackson, Dylan Fay, Conor Cox, Ciaran McCormack, Ben Carthy, Daire McManus, Tomas McDermott, Shane Mallon, James Doyle, Jack Sullivan, Charlie Patterson, Frank Patterson, Jamie Byrne, Johnny Grier, Kieran Reen, Maks Napieralski, Seamus McKeon.