Mini/Youth Playing Information & Training Times

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Results:

U13 Midland League

Longford U13 10 Tullamore 19

U14 Leinster League

Longford U14 12 Tullow 43

U15 Leinster League

Longford U15 36 Roscrea 25

U16 Leinster League

Longford U16 12 Boyne 34

U18 Leinster League

Longford U18 24 Skerries 67

Fixtures:

Sat 5th November

Longford U14 v Edenderry  (Home)

Longford U15 v Birr (Home)

Longford U17 v Ardee (Home)

Longford U18 v Dundalk (Away)

Match Reports:

Leinster U15 League

Longford U15 36 Roscrea 25

Longford’s Under 15s got back to winning ways after a couple of poor defeats with a well deserved victory away to Roscrea in the Leinster League.  Despite the fact that Roscrea are also involved in the Midland League they were something of an unknown quantity as is actually quite a few years since the two sides met.  The win was forged on a significant improvement on areas which were standards were lacking over the past few weeks – general workrate around the pitch, breakdown work and tackling – and in this respect one of the newcomers, Seamus McKeon led by example from the outset.

It was the home side, however, who started the better, a try from a blind side break after two minutes yielding a try on the right corner but Longford rallied almost immediately and camped themselves on the Roscrea line.  A series of rucks eventually brought a penalty which was tapped to James Doyle and even though he was held up short with his first surge he showed great determination to force his way over the line at the second attempt.  Longford extended their lead within a few minutes and, again, it was the product of good rucking and recycling from Maks Naperialski, Ciaran McCormack and James Doyle and with the hard work having been done by the pack Shane Mallon was on hand to bag his first of what would turn out to be a hat trick of tries on the day.

It was pretty much all Longford at this stage and even when Roscrea did manage to encroach into Longford territory good defensive work from, in particular, Seamus McKeon, Mossie McDermott and Jamie Byrne snuffed out any threat.  The remainder of the first half was pretty much one way traffic.  Another try from a tap penalty came from Ciaran McCormack, just reward for his ball carrying throughout the day.  It was the subsequent conversion, however, which was arguably the highlight of the day, Shane Mallon once again displaying his thinking and skills when, on his run up to strike the conversion, the ball toppled over but when the advancing Roscrea players stopped in their tracks unsure as to what to do he simply picked up the ball and slotted the conversion with a drop kick instead, much to the amusement of all concerned.

With five minutes of the half remaining the backs showed what they are capable of producing once presented with quick ruck ball.  Showing a great turn of pace and evading a number of would be tacklers Kieran Reen brought play close to the Roscrea line and when Mossie McDermott was able to fire out a pass from quickly recycled ball Daire McManus had a relatively simple run to the line for a 22 – 5 half time lead.

In fairness to the home side, they rallied during the half time interval and got themselves back into the game almost from the restart with a try following a tap penalty.  Once again, however, Longford responded well and should have scored on three occasions but failed for various reasons.  The first opportunity came from an incisive break by Kieran Reen but this time the support was slow to arrive when he was held up short of the line and the opportunity was lost.  The second was when Longford were penalised for accidental offside when a try scoring opportunity was there for the taking after, firstly, Maks Naperialski and then Seamus McKeon were held up on the line.  The third was when Daire McManus was adjudged not to have properly grounded the ball after he had crossed the line unopposed.  Again, it was all one way traffic for the next 10 minutes and it was a couple of desperate attempts by Roscrea to get themselves out of their own half and back into the game which cost them dearly.  A relieving kick from defence bounced just inside the Longford half and, having raced back to cover, Shane Mallon regained possession, broke a couple of tackles and then ran the half the length of the pitch for a try beneath the posts which he converted himself.  The hat trick was completed five minutes later when speed of thought allowed him intercept a pass as Roscrea tried to move the ball wide and none of the defenders were able to chase him down in the race to the line.

At 36 – 10 with only eight minutes remaining the game was done and dusted and it is perhaps because of the size of the lead that Longford took the foot off the pedal somewhat and allowed Roscrea back into the game for three unconverted tries in the closing minutes.  All three were as a consequence of defensive errors and can perhaps be forgiven given the workrate and commitment displayed over the preceeding 50 minutes.

Others who played well on the day included Ciaran Shannon who continues to show great workrate for the full 60 minutes and Oisin McDonnell and Ben Carthy who showed good ability to run with the ball whenever it came their way.

Next up is another Leinster League match, at home to Birr, this coming Saturday.

Squad: Gary Kenny, Mark McHugh, Jack McManus, Ciaran Shannon, J J Jackson, Dylan Fay, Conor Cox, Ciaran McCormack, Ben Carthy, Ultan O’Sullivan, Daire McManus, Thomas McDermott, Shane Mallon, James Doyle, Jack Sullivan, Charlie Patterson, Jamie Byrne, Frank Patterson, Killian Rawle, Kieran Reen, Maks Naperialski, Seamus McKeon, Oisin McDonnell.

Leinster U16 League

Longford 12 Boyne 34

We may have lost the game however it was great to notice several Longford players who stepped up and made an impression on the day.

It was never going to be an easy encounter playing this premiership team as Boyne proved to be a very powerful opponent. From the start, they put pressure on us and dished out a series of attacks that even our strongest defence pack could not endure for long. Two minutes into the game Boyne scored their first try followed by a conversion. Three more tries and a conversion followed at the 16th, 23rd and 27th minute. While the score at half time indicated that it was a one-sided game, it is worth mentioning that our players performed well and closed several failed attacks from Boyne.

Half time: Longford 0 – Boyne 24

Three minutes into the second half, Longford created a wonderful play where our forwards cracked the Boyne defence line which was immediately exploited by Johnathan Borland who ran towards the try line before offloading the ball to Joshua Manning who scored the first try for Longford. Boyne didn’t see this coming; unfortunately for Longford, they scored another try a few minutes later. Once again Longford found additional courage to stand-up to this very skilful Boyne team, a couple of long kicks from Rory Lennon ensured that we played on the Boyne 22 metre line. As Boyne were trying to gain ground and push away this passionate Longford team, Michael Dunne intercepted a Boyne ball and run all the way to the try line. Second try for Longford followed by a conversion.  Once again Boyne responded with another try and the game ended.

Next, we are playing Navan in Longford on Saturday 12th of November.

Longford: Gareth O’Hara, James Briody, David Connolly, John Corcoran, Michael Dunne, Kevin Greggs, William Higgins, Simon Moorehead, Brian O’Farrell, Jack Finnegan, Dario Cigliano, Joshua Manning, Liam Donoghue, Cian Gray, Ciaran McGlynn, Jacob Ireland, Brandon Maguire, Daniel Reilly, Rory Lennon, Jonathan Borland, Brian Farrell, Finn Brady