The U14’s bid for Leinster League Division 1 honours fell at the penultimate hurdle in Athy on Saturday last when, as runners up in Section B, they were beaten by the winners of Section A, Gorey.  Although the score line of 10-0 might suggest otherwise the game was in the balance right until the end at 5-0 and it was only on the stroke of full time that Gorey ensured victory with a try in the final play of the game.

Despite the score line and result Longford’s players can be proud of their performance on the day when they matched the Section A winners in virtually every facet of play.  Longford’s forwards more than held their own in scrums and line outs and certainly had the edge at the breakdown, forcing Gorey to concede quite a number of penalties for holding on to the ball after the tackle.  This was, as usual, the result of some excellent breakdown work by, in particular, Dylan Fay, Shane Mallon and Mossie McDermott (making a very welcome return following injury).  If there was one area of play, however, where the victors held the upper hand it was in their tackling technique and their two tries both stemmed from missed first up tackles and although valiant efforts were made by the cover defence on each occasion to redeem the situation the damage had already been done.

On a dirty, wet, miserable day Longford had the wind and the rain at their backs for the first half but it was Gorey who had the stronger opening and it wasn’t a huge surprise when they took the lead with a unconverted try after 15 minutes following a fairly lengthy spell close to the Longford line.  What was somewhat disappointing, however, was the manner in which the try was scored.  Having managed to get themselves into Gorey territory for almost the first time in the game a couple of would be tackles were not executed properly and the Gorey ball carrier was able to cross the goal line almost untouched.

Despite this setback, Longford held their own for the remainder of the half.  What was a little worrying, however, was that Longford were unable to create any clean line breaks but this was in no small measure due to the quality of the Gorey’s defensive work when solid tackling closed down any sniff of a try scoring opportunity.

Longford opened the second half with a much better performance and at one stage spent the best part of 10 minutes hammering away at the Gorey line.  Under pressure from a concerted wave of attacks Gorey began to be penalised at the breakdown but, despite some strong ball carrying from, in particular, James Doyle and Ciaran McCormack, the Gorey defence held firm.Having weathered the storm it began to look like it was going to be Gorye’s day but they only secured certain victory with the last play of the game.

While Longford’s players can have no complaint with the result they can be well satisfied with their performance and did themselves proud on the day.  Very much to the fore in this respect, with a man of the match performance was Ciaran Shannon (probably leading the tackle count on the day), Kieran Reen who performed admirably in his first competitive outing and the back row which ensured a plentiful supply of possession at the breakdown.

Having won the semi-final Gorey now advance to the final where they will meet Edenderry on Saturday next.  Next up for Longford is the quarter final of the Plate, away to Wicklow with the date to be determined.

Squad: Dylan Fay, Ben Carthy, Conor Cox, Kieran Reen, Mark McHugh, J J Jackson, Jack Sullivan, Gary Kenny, Ultan O’Sullivan, Killian Rawle, Jamie Byrne, Jack McManus, Ciaran Shannon, Ciaran McCormack, Shane Mallon, Daire McManus, Max Napieralski, James Doyle, Ryan Dempsey. Mossie McDermott.