Minor Footballers Fall To Longford Defeat In Leinster Championship

DUBLIN 1-9 

LONGFORD 3-8 

Dublin suffered their first reverse in the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship when falling to Longford by five points in their Group 1 encounter at Allen Park, Newtownforbes on Wednesday evening.

Both teams enjoyed wins in the opening round with Dublin beating Laois while Longford defeated Offaly and it was the midlanders who gained a deserved win with their ability to plunder goals at the most opportune times effectively sealing their win.

Following a cagey second quarter, there was very little to separate the teams with an early goal from Joshua Marsh helping the hosts to a narrow one-point lead by half-time.

However, Longford put daylight between the teams upon the restart, finding the net through Oisín Kane and Karl O’Hara, with Dublin’s only reward for some concerted pressure being a penalty by Hugh O’Neill in the early stages of the final quarter.

The visitors started brightly with Donach Magee opening the scoring in the 1^st minute but Longford bounced back well to take the lead four minutes later.

A speculative high ball was played towards the Dublin goal with full-forward Marsh in the right place at the right time to fire home past Brian Collins from close range.

The hosts added a free through Cian O’Donnell soon after but Dublin were already showing some decent fluency up front and corner-back Jack O’Keeffe joined the attack to telling effect when kicking a nice point in the 7^th minute.

Dublin could well have found the net themselves but Ryan Ennis was denied by James Ross in the home goal with the visitors gaining some consolation as Magee converted the resultant ‘45’.

The sides traded points with Senan Bolger on target in the 11^th minute but the enterprising start from both sides descended from that point as Dublin struggled to make inroads against a heavily-manned home defence.

Despite some near misses, Bolger’s point proved Dublin’s final score from play of the half, with a Rían Doherty free in the 21^st minute leaving the visitors facing an interval deficit of 1-3 to 0-5.

Dublin could not have wished for a more dispiriting start to the second-half as O’Donnell added two frees in quick succession before Kane left Collins helpless once again with a smart finish in the 36^th minute.

A second ‘45’ by Magee stemmed the flow briefly but matters deteriorated for the visitors in the 40^th minute as O’Hara pounced on another lengthy delivery to hand his side a healthy nine-point advantage.

A battling Dublin refused to accept their perceived fate but a series of uncharacteristic wides undermined their comeback hopes until O’Neill handed them a lifeline when converting a 48^th minute penalty.

However, another brace of O’Donnell frees stemmed any potential momentum from that goal and while Magee added two points from placed balls in the closing stages, the missed chances proved their undoing by the final whistle.

Dublin will look to bounce back from this disappointment when they face Offaly in their final group game in Parnell Park on Saturday week (12.30).

Scorers – Dublin: D Magee 0-5 (3 ‘45’s, 1f), H O’Neill 1-0 (pen), J O’Keeffe, S Bolger, R Doherty (f), D McGill 0-1 apiece. Longford: C O’Donnell 0-6 (5f), J Marsh 1-1, O Kane, K O’Hara 1-0 each, J Shannon 0-1.

Dublin: B Collins; S Devane, F Costello, J O’Keeffe; J Kennedy, F McGinnis, R Ennis; C Gavin, K Costello; C Loughran, S Bolger, D Magee; R Doherty, F Lydon, H O’Neill. Subs: D McGill for Ennis (26-31, Blood Sub), D O’Sullivan for Gavin (half-time), C McCabe for Lydon (40), E O’Donovan for Devane (44), J Comiskey for Bolger (51), McGill for Ennis (54).

Longford: J Ross; A Mimnagh, C McHugh, D Mulligan; C Doherty, M Cooney, C Flynn; S Fagan, P Farrell; O Kane, C O’Donnell, J Shannon; K O’Hara, J Marsh, J Hagan. Subs:

Referee: Cathal Boland (Westmeath).