Goncalo Catarino carves through the Ashbourne defence for Longford U17’s on Sunday last

Mini/Youth Playing Information & Training Times

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Youth’s Fixtures  

Sat 19^th Nov

U14’s vs. Carlow (Home)

U15’s vs. North Kildare (Home)

U16’s vs. Tullamore (Away)

Youth’s Results

Longford U13 17 Edenderry 07

Longford U14 34 Birr 32

Longford U16 05 Navan 38

Longford U17 13 Ashbourne 05

Match Reports

U14 Leinster League 

Longford U14 34 Birr 32

Longford’s Under 14s made the journey to South Offaly shorn of a cohort of the squad, but were in good spirits and hopes were high, despite a reverse to Birr earlier in the season. Longford started very strongly and two swift tries from the mercurial team talisman, No. 8 Josh Sorohan and his back-row blistering partner-in-crime Jason Glancy put Longford on the front foot. The Offaly men settled though and adopted a tactical kicking game turning Longford’s rampaging forward on their heels and prospered greatly with four unconverted tries in response. But for the clinical covering of the South Longford dynamic duo of flanker Patrick Connaughton and full-back Cormac McDonagh, it could have been more.

Down 20-10 at half-time, the heads could have dropped but Captain Fantastic Oisin O’Toole issued one of his famous rallying calls, beseeching everyman to stand up and fight. Dividends were immediate as Owen Harkin probed on the wing.  Loose ball broke to centre Kola Adejinmi and Birr were to feel the wrath of his jinking run to close the gap to five. The forwards began to dominate; Birr swarming Josh Sorohan every time he got on the ball. Cian Sutton controlled the flow at ten, at times playing as an auxiliary open-side as well as opening up the backs, and confidence grew. Rucking was confident with swift ball from Dylan Reilly giving clean ball to the back-line to run through a training ground counter-attack.

The introduction of Mark Bracken and Aaron Gilna added impetus, Mark’s first involvement was a jaw-dropping tackle on his opposite number forcing a knock-on and possession back in Longford’s hands. Niall Sheridan was busy snuffing out the other wing and the fresh legs of Aaron Gilna kept the momentum in the forwards.

Further tries fromJosh Sorohan, Kola Adejinmi and prop Aaron ”The Bull” Oates pulled Longford ahead 34-25 before Birr responded with a converted try with the last play.

It would be remiss not to praise two other groups. Games are won and lost by the unseen work and hooker Ronan Kavanagh and centre Oisin O’Toole led the tackle count and ensured all threats were snuffed out, forcing turnover after turnover and were the foundation of everything Longford achieved. However, the most impressive thing from a Longford development was the ball carriers in the pack. The Bull has scared defences before and he was to again, with Birr unable to handles his forays, one which resulted in a try. Recent recruit Padraig Sheridan continues to shine and carried ball and half the Birr pack before being held before the line. Second row, Jack Linnane took the mantle also and was unlucky beforebeing felled; however, perfectly presented ball for scrum-half Dylan Reilly ensured the next wave was imminent. Final word, though, is to his second-row partner, Man-of-the Match Rory Maguire, making a total of ninety metres with eight carries that left Birr in his wake, rampaging like a blond Paul O’Connell through the sea of Birr green.

This was a real team performance and the confidence and ability to turn around a half-time deficit says a lot for the belief and natural ability of this team, but also for the togetherness of the squad. They dug in hard and nobody flinched. Well done lads.

U15 Friendly

Longford U15 24 St Paul’s – Raheny 15

As part of their trip to the Aviva Stadium last Saturday for the Ireland – v – Canada game the Under 15’s had a friendly fixture against the St Paul ’s School, Raheny Under 15s side – a school which, coincidentally, numbers amongst its past pupils or own club Chairman, Tony Headon.  Despite this clash of allegiances Tony was on the sideline wearing his Rugby Club colours so it’s fair to assume he was content with the result which saw Longford edge out an evenly contested fixture by 24 points to 15.

It was St Paul’s who opened the scoring with only two minutes on the clock, Longford being guilty of some sloppy play when failing to clear their lines and the home side capitalised with an unconverted try following a sustained bout of pressure.

Within five minutes Longford were back in the game with a try from Daire McManus, converted by Mossie McDermott but it was the forwards who laid the platform with some excellent carrying and rucking.  There was little between the sides for thenext 15 minutes although play moved from end to end. As has been the case over the past few weeks Longford certainly had the upper hand in the lineout where, once again, J J Jackson gave a dominant display.  The defence was again much improved from a few weeks ago, Matt Steadman rock solid at full back and Oisin McDonnell and Kieran Reen improving week by week.

Longford grabbed a strangle hold on the game in the final five minutes of the first half, Ciaran McCormack crossing for a try following good support play from Joshua Gray andSeamus McKeon followed by a second of the day from Daire McManus straight from the resulting restart when he capitalised on some poor defending from the homeside to run for a score beneath the posts from his own 10 meter line.

St Paul’s had the upper hand in the early stages of the second period and when Longford lost possession sloppily the home side were back in the game with their second try of the day.  The final result was put beyond doubt when Longford camped themselves on the St  Paul ’s line.  After Jack Sullivan looked to have scored a try (but the referee ruled it out as he had not seen a clear grounding of the ball) the ball was recycled and on this occasion there was no doubt when Ben Carthy scampered over for the touchdown.

In fairness to St Paul’s they finished the stronger and were to have the last say when their No 8muscled his way over for a try following a five meter scrum.

Others who showed up well on the day were Cathal Byrne who displayed an eagerness for work all the time and Christopher Manning who made good ground every time he got the ball in hand.  It’s back to league action next weekend with a home fixture against North Kildare in the final gamein Phase 1 of the League. After that there is a weekend free of league action andPhase 2 of the League proper is scheduled to begin on 3^rd December.

Squad: Gary Kenny, Mark McHugh, J J Jackson, Dylan Fay, Ciaran McCormack, Ben Carthy, DaireMcManus, Thomas McDermott, Matt Steadman, Christopher Manning, Jack Sullivan, Charlie Patterson, Cathal Byrne, Frank Patterson, Jamie Byrne, Killian Rawle, Johnny Greir, Kieran Reen, Joshua Gray, Seamus McKeon, Oisin McDonnell.

Leinster U17 League

Longford U17 13  Ashbourne 05

Yes, I know it’s November but Longford U17’s finally made their first appearance in the Leinster League on Sunday last. The game agains tMeath side, Ashbourne would have made Joe Schmidt cringe with the Longford side’s scant training in the previous few weeks and even less pre-match preparation, however the performance underlined the potential that is in thissquad.

The game kicked off and after a short period of possession for the visitors, Longford controlled the ball and attached relentlessly. Peadar Kenny and Eoin Reilly led the early charge taking on ball after ball and the cleaning out behind them was equally relentless.  The lineout was not functioning well– a direct consequence of the lack of practice – but still balls were lost and turned over – the constant pressure kept Ashbourne on the back foot. Penalties flowed as Ashbourne defended desperately, Longford opted for the tap and go, Daire O’Brien and Captain Darragh O’Toole were to the fore punching holes in the defence. The scrums held up reasonably wellin the circumstances and a good stint from Calum Delaney was directlyresponsible for this supply of ball. The back line in the first half was disappointing and failed to show any real ability to break the line –apart from a couple of good individual breaks from Ronan Bleakley, one in particularalmost resulted in a try – there was lack of any fluidity in the passing and running. The only score in the first half came from the boot of Liam Sheridan after a tip tackle on Darragh O’Toole saw the Ashbourne 10 see yellow. No shortage of effort or passion in the first 35 mins but it would take a little more than this to see the game through with a slim 3 point lead.

The introduction of debutant Kevin Brennan at half time saw him straight into the action as he fielded the restart and decided to take on the whole Ashbourne pack single handedly! The forceful driving and presentation of the ball was impressive as he tasted his first action in Longford rugby club.  Longford again were doing great work up front but Ashbourne were more at the pace of the game and began to turn over possession. There were a number of breaks by the Ashbourne back line but defenders still managed to get back – Cormac McMahon had a good solid game on the wing in both defence and attack and Ryan Corcoran on a least 2 occasions was only stopped by the final tackler and continues to torment defences with his jinking running and explosive acceleration. The back line looked far more settled with Michael McCann taking over at out half giving his outside backs badly needed go forward ball.  Despite this Ashbourne scored next with a try in the corner from a quick tap penalty and there was a fear that this was the start of a rout despite longford’s superiority in possession. But to their credit the final quarter was played with a passion that left victory inevitable. Second row Michael McKenna, who was omnipresent all game, latched onto a kick ahead,enveloping  the full back as he gathered the ball and drove him back over his own line. The resulting scrum saw the ball flashed out the back line and Conor Craig peeled off a resulting maul and somehow managed to get over in thecorner. Now ahead 8-5 but still 10 minutes left to play. The back’s now had developed an air of confidence with Luke McIntyre and Paulius Merkelislooking increasingly dangerous – Liam Sheridan was controlling thedesperate Asbourne clearances and returning them with interest. The gamecontinued to be played in the Ashbourne 22 and another Daire O’Brien tappenalty was passed out to the onrushing Conor Craig who dodged 3 tackles he hadno right to and crashed over to seal the win. 

The performance of the back row in this game was pivotal – the work rate of Daire O’Brien and Conor Craig has already been mentioned but Goncalo Catarino’s performance was to be marvelled at – his workrate, body position and destructive running were a pleasure to watch – so from the U17’s welcome to Longford Goncalo as well as well done to Kevin& Michael on your debuts.  

Next game on the calendar is against Dundalk on 26^th Nov but we will try and get a game for next weekend to keep the momentum going – training on Thursday night at 7.30PM.   

Team: Calum Delaney, Darragh O’Toole (Capt), Eoin Reilly, Peadar Kenny,Michael McKenna, Daire O’Brien, Conor Craig, Goncalo Catarino, Ryan Corcoran, Ronan Bleakley, Michael McCann, Luke McIntyre, Cormac McMahon,Paulius Merkelis, Liam Sheridan, Kevin Brennan   

                              Seamus Hanley and Mathew Flynn looking pleased with their day’s work having beaten Edenderry U13’s on Saturday last