Longford RFC Club News 210119 including Mini/Youth Match Reports   22/01/2019

Senior Men/Women wrap up & U9-U16 Match Reports

By Tommy Butler Longford RFC PRO tommylbutler@gmail.com 

Senior Men

Longford Senior Men took on Cill Dara in the First Round of the Provincial Towns Cup yesterday.  After a stern examination by a Cill Dara side that are in the race for promotion into Longford’s Division 1B, the men in white (for one day only!) emerged 22-08 winners and moved into the second round.  As Longford played at home in the first round, they were likely to be drawn away in the second round and this is what happened in having to travel to Drogheda to take on Boyne who ply their trade in Division 1A of Leinster rugby (the division above Longford).  Even though they lie bottom of 1A, they are not to be underestimated and they will give Longford a tough examination in their quest to reach the quarter finals.  The second round match will take place on Sunday February 10th at 3 PM. 

Next week it is back to league action with an away trip to Black Gates to play Tullow.  It is a battle of third versus fourth in the table and with first and second; Suttonians and Monkstown, facing off on the same day it offers Longford/Tullow a chance to make up ground on the leading two.  Tullow is always a tough place to visit but Longford have a lot of experience down there and know that it is a cup final in regards to challenging for second place in the league and a potential promotion playoff with only three matches remaining.  Longford earned a 35 23 bonus point versus Tullow in CPL Park in November and will have to be at their best to come away from County Carlow with a win.  The Early XV will be looking to lay down a marker versus the same opposition as they build up for the first round of the Provincial Towns Seconds Cup clash away to Athy on Sunday week.

Upcoming Fixtures

Sunday January 27th Leinster League Tullow (Away).

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

Sunday February 10th Provincial Towns Cup 2nd Round Boyne (Home).

Longford Women (Warriors)

200119 Leinster Women’s League Division 4 Longford 21 Naas 19

By Nuala McGoey Women’s Head Coach

Longford had table toppers/previously unbeaten Naas visiting CPL park on Sunday past. They came from behind to score a great 21 19 win and will make the play offs if they win their last three games.  A match report will be published on Wednesday.  They are away to Portlaoise this Sunday looking to keep that winning feeling.

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.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Sunday January 27th Leinster League Portlaoise (Away).

Sunday February 3rd Leinster League CYM (Away).

Sunday February 17th Leinster League (Home).

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/qAVBPv

Fixtures:

Saturday January 26th 

U15 v Tullamore (Home).

U14 v Midland Warriors (Away).

U13 v Carlow (Away).

U7&U8 Edenderry Blitz (Away)

Sunday January 20th

U11/U12 v Mullingar (Away)

U9&U10 Training

Match Reports

It was a very busy weekend of Longford Mini/Youth Rugby with lots of match reports below!

U16

Longford U16 hosted the R&B Rebels on Saturday afternoon. With some new blood and some returning players the team were determined to abandon their customary slow start and so proceeded to tear into the opposition from kick off. Some great forward play and some hard running from out half Conor McGovern, No. 8 Kola Adejinmi and centre Cormac McDonagh made sure that Longford took an early lead and held this lead throughout the game. The Longford team never took a step backwards with Padraig Sheridan, Sam Burgess, Ryan Doherty and Ronan Kavanagh leading the defensive effort. A total of 6 tries were scored by the home side with 3 wonderful tries each for McDonagh and Adejinmi meant that Longford were always in control of the game.  Flanker Kevin McDonagh certainly had his kicking boots on as he converted 4 kicks. A final score of 36 to 19 gave the brave longford team a well deserved win. Man of the match: Padraig Sheridan.

Team: Tony Flynn, Aaron Oates, Padraig Sheridan, Aaron Gilnan, Rory Maguire, Kevin McDonagh, Kola Adejinmi, Sam Burgess, Dylan Reilly, Conor McGovern, Cormack McDonagh, Ronan Kavanagh, Daniel Hayden, Ryan Doherty, Daniel Daly & Shane Killian.

U15

Longford U15's travelled to Tullamore to play their final Midland League fixture of the season. Despite being down several players due to injury and flu, Longford played their best rugby of the season against a full strength Tullamore team. Longford had 15 players and no subs and this proved vital in the end, when fatigue and injuries were the difference. Longford's passing and tackling was superb and only for the 2 tries they conceded in the 2nd half when they were down to 13 players, the result could have been different. Longford's next game is at home to Tullamore again next Saturday in the Leinster Cup.

Team and scorers; 1 Lolu Adejimni (1 try), 2 Ronan Smith (1 try), 3 Seamus Hanley,

4 Oisin O'Hara, 5 Conor McNamara, 6 Keith Neary, 7 Dean Rogan, 8 Eoin Murtagh (1 try), 9 Ryan Cunningham, 10 Brendan Naughton (2 con), 11 Jacob Crossan, 12 Kevin Byrne, 13 Jamie Brady, 14 Gavin Courage & 15 John Boyle.

U14 Girls

The U14 Girls development league started on Saturday Longford girls took on a well experienced and bigger Edenderry. The Longford girls never stopped trying, making some great runs and fantastic. A lot was learned from their very first game out together. Onwards and upwards for this great bunch of girls.

U14

Longford U14's played Edenderry at home today in clear sunny conditions. Longford produced a great running game that resulted in a 48 to 12 win in the third game of our Midlands League competition. Tackling and supporting the person with the ball combined with forwards taking the ball up the centre of the field and backs supporting each other for a 8 try to 2 game. Normally certain players that were outstanding would be singled out but for this game the whole team produced this result. Tries were awarded to Shane O'Hara (3), Sam Mills (3), Leo Temple and Ryan D'Arcy.  James Gilheany added 8 extra points with conversions. Training will be on Wednesday evening at 7pm where we will concentrate on tackling, scrumagging and passing.  Our Next game will be away to Wicklow in the Leinster League competition; a must win game if we are to continue towards a finals berth.

U13

It was great pride that Longford Under 13’s took to the pitch in Mullingar for their first full 15 a side match of the year (plus 1 replacement). We took on local rival’s Mullingar in a friendly encounter on the eve of our cup competition next weekend against Carlow.

Right from the start Longford were under pressure with some great defending when Ciaran Heffernan tackled Mullingar’s tall full back after breaking through 3 previous tackles to prevent a try. However, Longford were unable to prevent them going in a few minutes later. Undaunted by this, Longford immediately went up the field and a straight run at the Mullingar defence by Jack O’Hara resulted in a try under the sticks that was duly converted by Conor Mulligan. The rest of the half, Longford were on the defensive and eventually Mullingar ran in another try.

At half time with a deficit on one try, the Longford thought they could manage an upset over a team who are competing at the top end of their league and have numerous games under their belts at this stage of the season. Due to lack of concentration, Longford let Mullingar in for the first score of the second half and then they added another few. With some positional changes in the middle of the 2nd half, Longford gained in confidence and started coming at Mullingar. The true grit and “never say die” attitude was rewarded when a visionary kick by out half Mulligan across the field our right winger, Jack Reilly, caught Mullingar off guard with the ball being passed in field for a try to be scored by Ciaran Heffernan. Longford regained possession from the kick off and a floating pass out to the newbie Longford left winger, Dylan Vance caught him by surprise as he nearly had a clear run ahead of him to the line. Mullingar tackled him on their 22, but as they did so, he got the pass off to the supporting Mulligan, who dodged 3 retreating Mullingar defenders to score under the posts.

There was one final hurrah for Longford when No 8. James Grehan broke from the scrum to score another try for Longford. Although Longford came second on the day, losing by 7 points, it was a performance that was being looked for by Longford and it was a proud performance that Longford parents and supporters witnessed. Everybody played their part and there was some very good defensive work done by all. The forwards had a solid platform with new players Sean Molihan & Killian Mc Givney propping for the first time, holding up hooker, Ciaran Heffernan. In the engine house was Jack O’Hara & James Grehan being held in by Olan Bracken and Rian Browne at Flankers and newbie Daragh Kelly at number 8. In the half backs were Alex Forde at scrum half and Conor Mulligan (also scorer of 3 out of 4 conversions) and in the centres, Jack Mc Weeney & Daniel Galvin (who switched with Daragh Kelly in the 2nd half and moved into the forwards) and wingers Jack Reilly and Cathal O’Hara being supported by full back Rian Macken. Dylan Vance, with only one training session under his belt, came on at half time to nearly score a run away try.

There are some areas that we need to brush up on before next week’s cup match, but Saturday’s display gave Longford a great platform to work on. Thanks to all who attended and to Mullingar playing and hosting the game and the ample refreshments afterwards. Training again next Thursday.

U12 

Sunday saw us away to Moate team Midlands Warriors.  From the off our boys drove hard at the opposition and started the scoring early. We worked on moving the ball through the hands in the last couple of weeks and the good work showed as we pulled the Warriors apart on both sides of the pitch. William McEntire and Mikey Glennon were tasked with keeping the star player of the Moate outfit occupied and both did a top class job in shutting him down. The effort was not lost on the troops as they all pitched in with similar efforts in defence.  With good forward momentum we ran at will over the gain line. Tries from Daniel Corr, Harry Byrne, Mikey Glennon, William McEntire and Senan Murphy were racked up but special mention for Ryan Spollen on his debut crossing for his first try for the team.

Another good days work for Tadgh McCauley and Mitch Clarke in the forwards to.

Next week we head to Mullingar for the next midlands blitz. Longford Team: Danny Kelly, Ryan Spollen, Tadgh McCauley, Senan Murphy, Daniel Corr, Derek Belton, Shane McGuigan, Matthew Kenny, Donnacha Golden, Tom Murray, Mikey Glennon, Harry Byrne, William McEntire, Mitch Clarke, Darragh Nash.

U9

A great morning at a well organized blitz in Mullingar. Our players played 3 games of 12 mins against Edenderry, Mullingar and Birr. Results might not have gone our way but there was great skills and we are definitely improving every time. Attitude is so important and our lads never gave up. So well done to all and thanks to mums/dads too for coming over.

Club News

Midlands U16 Team

Congratulations to Kevin McDonagh and Kola Adejinmi who play for the Midlands U16 versus the South East in Carlow on Monday.

Great Food/Events 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.











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