By Tommy Butler Longford RFC PRO tommylbutler@gmail.com 

Senior Men

Longford Senior Men’s Teams succumbed to defeats yesterday versus Monkstown.  Both teams had enough chances to win the matches and the Monkstown scores all came from mistakes by Longford.  However, both teams are still in the running for either league honours/promotion and will now focus on their four remaining league games.  First up is the challenge of DLSP next Sunday in CPL Park.  The lads will be hoping for a big performance in the build up to an attractive home first round fixture in the Provincial Towns Cup versus Cill Dara the following Sunday.  It is by no means an easy draw for Longford, with Cill Dara lying in second place in Division 2A (the Division below Longford).  However, the lure of a home cup fixture is certain to draw a big crowd to CPL Park on January 20^th and with Longford’s good form in 1B this year the lads will be training hard looking to earn a good run in the famous competition. The Provincial Towns Cup is one of the oldest rugby cup competitions and widely regarded as one of the Premier Junior Rugby cup competitions in the world.

The draw was also recently made for the Provincial Towns Seconds Cup, which the Early XV will compete in.  They were drawn away to face Athy 2^nd XV on Sunday February 3^rd.  The Early XV are going well this season and will be looking to continue the progress with a good cup run.

Upcoming Fixtures

Sunday January 13^th Leinster League DLSP (Home).

Sunday January 20^th Provincial Towns Cup 1^st Round Cill Dara (Home).

Sunday January 27^th Leinster League Tullow (Away).

Sunday February 3^rd Provincial Seconds Cup Athy (Away)

Kick offs are 13:00/14:30 in January.

Longford Women (Warriors)

Longford Women are back in league action this weekend with an away fixture in Greystones and will try to keep up their three match winning going in Wicklow.  The Warriors train every Tuesday and Friday night at 7.30 PM. New players of all fitness levels are welcome, even if they have not played before. Contact Nuala on 082482005.

Congratulations to Bronagh Kirk, Aine Cox, Mary Sheridan and Eliza Boyle who took part in Midland U18 trials last week who are pictured below.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Sunday January 13^th Leinster League Greystones (Away).

Sunday January 20^th Leinster League Naas (Home).

Sunday Januarys 27^th Leinster League Portlaoise (Away)

All Kick Offs are at 1 PM.

Longford Mini/Youths

It was a busy weekend of rugby for our Minis/Youths.  It is not too late to start playing Mini rugby.  Longford RFC welcome new players at all levels both boys/girls with no previous experience necessary.  Training times and Fixtures can be found on www.longfordrugby.com or at https://goo.gl/qAVBP

Fixtures:

Saturday January 12^th

U18 v Mullingar (Away).

U17 v New Ross (Home).

U15 v Edenderry (Away).

U14 v Wicklow (Away).

Mini trip to Leinster v Toulouse (leaving at 9.45 am) 

Match Reports:

U18 Longford U18's played Portarlington on Saturday morning in the Leinster League. Longford got off to a brilliant start keeping Portarlington in there 22 but unfortunately were turned over and Portarlington cleared their line. Longford came back at them with tries coming from Craig Gorman, Bryn Peters and Daniel Reilly. It was a very competitive game but unfortunately Portarlington won out in the end with a score of 24 to 32.  It was an outstanding performance from all the lad's; Craig Gorman, James Reilly, Gareth O'Hara, Finn Brady, Oisin McDonnel, David Connolly, Daniel Reilly, Michael Dunne, Dean Norton, William Higgins, Simon Moorhead, Brian O'Farrell, Jack Finnegan, Evan Hogan, Bryn Peters Colin Cousins, Peadar Kenny and Ciaran McGlynn. Next week we are away to Mullingar.

U17 The 17s could only put together 14 players for the first fixture in Phase 2 of the Leinster League which was very disappointing as Gorey are not one of the stronger teams in the Division and were certainly capable of being beaten. In fairness to the guys who turned up they kept going to the very end but you can't possibly expect to prevail when only playing with 14 for the entire game. Some aspects of the game were very pleasing, particularly poaching the opposition ball at ruck time where Conor Cox, Ciaran Shannon and Gary Kenny were very much to the fore. Tackling was much improved and very prominent in this area were Fergal Keane, Seamus McKeon and Kieran Reen. Unfortunately, the one man advantage for the whole game gradually took its toll and Gorey were also able to bring on fresh legs to live them a somewhat flattering victory on the scoreboard.

U16 Longford U16 were away to Edenderry this weekend with a squad that hadn’t played completive rugby since early November. The game was truly one of two halves with Longford showing the rustiness from lack of matches and consequently giving away several positional advantages in the Edenderry 5 yard. Edenderry hit Longford’s try line eight times without reply in the first half.  The second half saw a different Longford that came to play. The boys virtually played the second half in Edenderry’s half hitting perfect rucks, tackles and set plays that led to a hat trick of tries for powerful forward Cormack McDonagh and a brace for second centre Kola Adejinmi who also provided some of the most crucial tackles in the game to keep Longford on the offensive. Kevin McDonagh converted two of Longford’s five kick conversion.  A “hail mary” kick deep into Longford’s half and a fortunate bounce provided Edenderry right winger the opportunity to score the last try of the game. The game ended with Longford’s first loss in the new year with Edenderry scoring nine tries to Longford’s five tries.  Team captain Connor McGovern summed up the day... “We showed Edenderry too much respect by letting them run at us in the first half. In the second we played without fear and played basic rugby... get up quick in defence, hit tackles first time and cut out their big players. Our next game will be better...”

U15 Longford U15's hosted Portlaoise A's on Saturday morning. Longford struggled in the 1st half to deal with a huge physical Portlaoise team and let the game get away from them. Longford's effort cannot be faulted and if they had taken their chances the match result may have been different. Too many missed tackles by Longford proved critical in the end. Longford can take comfort in their excellent 2nd half performance but in the end, Portlaoise were deserving winners. Our next game is away to Edenderry next Saturday 12th Jan in the Leinster League.  Team & scorers: 1 Seamus Hanley, 2 Ronan Smyth, 3 Keith Neary, 4 Conor McNamara, 5 Sean Conboy, 6 Kevin Byrne, 7 Jamie Brady, 8 Eoin Murtagh (1 try), 9 Ryan Cunningham, 10 Brendan Naughton (1 con), 11 Oisin O'Hara, 12 Padraig Boyle (1 try), 13 Dean Rogan, 14 Oisin Flynn, 15 John Boyle.

Subs used: 16 Lolu Adejimni, 17 Francis Dunne, 18 Kieran Mulligan.

U14 Longford team played Terenure this morning resulting in a 5 to 29 loss. The game was played under overcast skies with occasional rainfall. Longford's lone try was a first half team supported play with Luke McManus scoring in the 24 min. Terenure scored three times in the first half and met a better defensive Longford team that held them to a single converted try in the second half.  Outstanding plays during the game by Sam Mills, Adam Reem, Leo Temple and Connor Milligan (one of three U13's player's that once again supported their older club mates. Areas for improvement are ball passing/ supporting the runner with the ball. Next match will be in the Leinster League, away to Wicklow on the 13th January.

Club News

Great Food/Events & Christmas Parties at Longford RFC

The Sin Bin at Longford RFC serves great quality and value food on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12-3 and 12-7 on Saturday and Sunday. Booking for events such as birthdays, christening, confirmations, communions, weddings and funerals are available.

The Sin Bin also shows all Irish rugby/Leinster/Munster matches live.

For bookings and information phone Kris on 0872872357.

4G All Weather Pitch Rental

Our state of the art floodlight Mel Diffley 4G pitch is available for rental.  It contains shock absorption so that players can play contact sports/fall over without hurting themselves.  It is also perfect for 5 a side soccer.  If you would like to book it phone Damian on 0862757103.

Longfords first U18 Girls Team who played against Wilson's Hospital recently.