Longford RFC Notes 07/02/2022   07/02/2022

By Tommy Butler Longford RFC PRO lrfconnects@gmail.com 

Longford Rugby’s and Bornacoolas Shane Mallon selected for Ireland U20 Six Nations Squad

Congratulations to Longford RFC’s Shane Mallon who started on the left wing for Ireland U20s on Friday night, played in Musgrave Park, Cork, where they crushed Wales U20s 53-05 in winning by a record margin.  Unfortunately, most of the play went down the right wing so Shane did not have any chance to get among the try scorers.  However, he put an impressive all round performance especially defensively where he secured four turn overs and made some crucial last ditch tackles.  A memorable moment was a kick and chase up the wing where he then secured a turnover penalty from the Welsh player who had gathered his kick ahead.  Everyone in Longford RFC was glued to RTE 2 and were exceptionally proud of Shane and look forward to seeing get more game time across the Six Nations.  A far tougher task awaits both Ireland sides this weekend as they travel to France.  Ireland U20s play France on Friday at 8 PM in Marseille.  Fingers crossed that Shane gets more game time and we can all enjoy watching Shane again and having Longford RFC mentioned prominently on national TV!

Shane Mallon with Longford RFC U10

Another Frustrating Afternoon for Longford Senior Men

06/02/2022 Leinster League 1B Tullow 22 Longford 8

By Tommy Butler at Black Gates, Tullow.

Longford came away from a crucial Division 1B clash showing nothing for their efforts, despite giving their all.  The clash was crucial for the wrong reason in that after the loss Longford are firmly in possession of the relegation/promotion play off place with two matches still to play.  Things looked so differently earlier in the season with Longford running in five tries, enough for a bonus point win against the same opposition.

The match was played on Tullow’s new 4G pitch on a bitterly cold and windy day, with the wind blowing down the pitch to the clubhouse end.  The wind meant that it was going to be very difficult to escape from the 22 towards the clubhouse end, as kicks would make very little distance.  Longford chose to play against the wind in the first half in the hope that a mighty defensive effort could limit Tullow to a manageable score line, with Longford having the wind in the second half.

Things did not start out as planned from a Longford point of view as Tullow got hold of the ball from the kick off and relentlessly pummelled the Longford line with their big pack.  To Longford’s credit they held out well but eventually Tullow made the breakthrough from a driving maul to go 5-0 on front.  Tullow then added a penalty to stretch their lead to 8 points.

Longford then came back and got some field position but try as they might did not get over the Tullow line and did not add any scores.  The wind made any penalty opportunities extremely difficult.  Longford were left to regret this very much, as Tullow crashed over for two tries just before half time to leave the deficit at 22-0, which was even with the wind in the 2nd half a very tough margin to overcome.

The second half was virtually all about Longford trying to score and Tullow trying to stay strong in defence and unfortunately from a Longford point of view they did not quite show enough guile in attack to out fox a committed Tullow defence who slowed the match down at every opportunity.  Longford were limited in the second half to one try and a penalty from Ryan McHugh to go down to a disappointing 22-08 loss.

Longford have two matches remaining with the home fixture versus Mullingar a big one, the maths are fairly simple at this stage, Longford need two wins from their last two games at home to Mullingar and away to Cill Dara if they are to avoid having to compete in the relegation/promotion play off against the team that finish second in Division 2A.

Finally, the Provincial Towns Cup draw was made during the week.  Longford were given two tough draws with the 1st XV away to Carlow and the 2nd XV at home to Boyne.

Longford Squad: J Forde, H Connolly (C), D Quinn, B McManus, J Geelan, M McHugh, P Molloy, F McGowan, A Wynne, R Shaw, D McHugh, G McDermott, J McGowan, R McHugh, L Brady, P Dardis, Aaron,  F Davis, C Hughes & D Connolly.

Post Match Reaction from Longford RFC Senior Men’s Head Coach Glenn Baskett

“Without stating the obvious that result is disappointing, it’s not what we needed but we have to learn quick ahead of Mullingar next weekend. We knew this was a huge game for both of us today and Tullow managed the wind well in both halves through their ball carrying options, better than we did. I thought 15-0 at HT would have been a fair result for us to turn and play with the wind, but to concede the 7 pointer right on HT was tough. That said I thought we had enough in the group to challenge them defensively. But if I’m honest we didn’t ask enough questions in the 2nd half and made it easy for Tullow. They did defend well but we could have challenged them more. I can’t fault the effort of the boys throughout the 80, but we probably didn’t match their ball carrying options. Credit to Tullow who managed the ref and the clock in that 2nd half by going down and soaking up time and momentum when we had ascendancy at times. But our attack needs to paint different pictures and we have a week to do that.”

Men’s Leinster League Fixtures/Results 2021-2022

19/09/2021 Longford 09 Wicklow 14

16/09/2021 Boyne 13 Longford 08

10/10/2021 Longford 17 Cill Dara 15

17/10/2021 Clondalkin 15 Longford 34

31/10/2021 Longford 18 v Carlow 13

28/11/2021 Mullingar 22 v Longford 11

05/12/2021 Wicklow 34 v 25 Longford

12/12/2021 Longford 20 v Boyne 29

16/01/2021 Longford 48 v Clondalkin 05 CPL Park

23/01/2021 Carlow 29 v Longford 05 Oak Park

06/02/2022 Tullow 22 v Longford 08 Black Gates

13/02/2022 Longford v Mullingar CPL Park (1st XV 3 2nd XV 1.30)

20/02/2022 Cill Dara v Longford Silken Thomas Park (1st XV 3.00 2nd XV 1.30)

Provincial Towns Cup

05/03/2022 Longford 2nd XV v Boyne. 3PM (1st Round)

06/03/2022 Carlow v Longford 1st XV. 3PM (1st Round)

Senior Women

Longford Senior Women’s home game versus Arklow was cancelled by Arklow at short notice with the game awarded to Longford.  Next up is an away trip to Greystones on the 20th.

Women’s Leinster League Fixtures 2021-2022

03/10/2021 Longford v Portlaoise (Conceded by Portlaoise)

24/10/2021 Longford 17 v New Ross 19

31/10/2021 Arklow 19 v Longford 07

14/11/2021 Longford 41 v Greystones 0

28/11/2021 Naas 52 v Longford 15

05/12/2021 Garda/Westmanstown v Longford (Postponed)

12/12/2021 Portlaoise 8 v Longford 5

16/01/2021 Longford 32 v Naas 20 CPL Park

30/01/2021 New Ross 07 v Longford 17

06/02/2022 Longford v Arklow CPL Park (Conceded by Arklow)

20/02/2022 Greystones v Longford

13/03/2022 Longford v Garda/Westmanstown CPL Park

Notes

Nous allons á Paris

The first weekend of the 2022 Six Nations lived up to its promise as capacity crowds witnessing some great rugby in highly questionable weather.  First out of the blocks was Ireland, who earned a bonus point 29-07 win versus a poor Wales side.  The result never looked in doubt from 3 minutes in, when Bundee Aki crossed for Irelands first try.  The only surprise was that Ireland did not score more tries.  However, it was a great way to start the campaign.  Ireland now travel to the Stade de France on Saturday to take on a strong French side on the back of their expected win versus Italy.  Ireland emerged from the Welsh game with no big injury doubts and should have both Robbie Henshaw and Ian Henderson back in harness.  Hopefully the extra days rest will be to Ireland’s advantage as winning in the Stade de France is exceptionally difficult.  However, this Irish team with the brand of rugby they are playing certainly have it in them.  Scotland retained the Calcutta Cup for the first time since the mid-80s when the scraped past England in Murrayfield on Saturday.  England will be kicking themselves as they were on top for large parts of the game but their attack could not find a cutting edge.  The match turned on a moment of madness, when English hooker Luke Cowan Dickie batted a cross field kick in touch resulting in a yellow card and a penalty try for Scotland.  England will be looking for redemption in Italy next weekend as will Wales at home to a Scotland side who have their tails up and will fancy a shot at the injury crippled Wales side.

Time to Dust off the Boots, Vet’s Rugby is here

A date in your diary for the Vets team is Friday/Saturday February 25th/26th when we hope to welcome the Garda Vets to CPL Park for our inaugural match.  The final details should be confirmed this week.  In an effort to make sure players can still find their boots and their tubes of deep heat, there will be a (training) session for an hour on the 4G pitch at 7 this Friday.  We invite everyone who has expressed in an interest in playing Vets rugby to join in for a not too strenuous blow out. The only qualification you need is to be over 35 and have played rugby before! We welcome all players who have played for Longford or are from the general area who would like to play some Vets rugby.

We have invites to play other teams and an end of season blitz tournament on the first weekend of April for all those who are interested.

If you are interested in getting involved, please email lrfconnects@gmail.com or give Tommy Butler a ring/text on 0863143968 or come along to training.

Just to note initially only players with previous rugby experience will be eligible to play.

Fantasy Six Nations

Thanks to everyone who entered our Fantasy Six Nations League.  After week 1 Shane Hanley heads the standings, although there is a long way to go.

You can still join in for fun

Entry is only €10 per player and has to be paid online in advance at the link below

https://bit.ly/3u2LP2S

Thanks for your support and best of luck.

Please tell your friends and family

Coaching Seminar

Longford RFC hosted a brilliant coaching seminar on Wednesday past where Coaches from all levels within in the club heard how to improve their coaching skills from Steve Coy, Colm Glynn and Senior Men’s Head Coach Glenn Baskett.  Well done to Gerry Carthy on organising this great initiative which was very well received by all those that attended.

Sin Bin

The Sin Bin is back open this week from Wednesday January 20th,  as per Government Guidelines.  Superb food and drink are available across the weekend (Friday to Sunday) and lunch on Wednesday/Thursday. 

Phone 087 346 4914 for bookings or email sinbinbookings@outlook.com.  Check out the Sin Bins Facebook page for update, specials and updated opening hours;  www.facebook.com/sinbinlongford/












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