28/11/2021 Leinster League 1B Mullingar 25 Longford 11

By Tommy Butler at Shay Murtagh Park Mullingar

Longford Senior Men’s J1 side ended their four match unbeaten run when they came away from Mullingar with nothing to show for their efforts.  It was probably mostly a question of Mullingar wanting it more, which allowed them to edge the exchanges between two evenly matched sides.  Longford did not help their cause by conceding three kickable penalties straight from the kick off, being uncharacteristically porous in defence and struggling to get a lineout platform.

The game was played at a temperature of only 5°C on Mullingar’s synthetic pitch, which allowed a good contest compared to a soft grass pitch.  Although Longford started the better it was Mullingar who began to get on top, spending a lot of time in the Longford half.  However, time and again Longford’s defence remained firm, eventually turning over the ball and clearing the line.  Indeed, Longford’s ‘exits’ from their own 22 were generally spot on and well executed.  Despite all the pressure it was Longford who opened the scoring on the 30 minute mark from the boot of Ryan McHugh.  However, disaster struck as after all the hard work Longford immediately conceded a penalty from the kick off, which allowed Mullingar to even the scores.  Following on from this Longford pilled on the pressure and after a series of attacks on the Mullingar line and goal line drop outs, Longford came away with another penalty, when they badly needed a try.  However, it was ground hog day for Longford, who again gave away a penalty straight from the kick off, to allow the scores to be levelled.  Although Longford had another attacking opportunity before half time, their line out again creaked and  the opportunity was lost.  The 6-6 score line at half time set up a potentially great second half but unfortunately this was nearly exclusively great for the home side, who being honest showed more energy and want than Longford, in a performance reminiscent of the way Longford played during their four match unbeaten run.  Mullingar scored early in the second half, when a ball from a driving maul was spread ride for their 13 to go over a bit too easily.  They quickly followed this up with a second eight minutes after poor tackling from the away side, leaving the score 20-6 and Longford with a mountain to climb.  To their credit Longford tried hard but Longford’s carries were generally met with two men in the home defence making it very difficult for Longford to make head way.  Mullingar’s defence was on the edge all day and they eventually ended up with 13 men for a period due to persistent infringement’s.  Even at that Longford were finding it hard to cross the white wash but eventually did so after moving the ball from a scrum across the back line to make their superior numbers count and going in in the corner to leave the score 20-11 with 11 minutes to go.  That was as good as it got for Longford, as they gave away another penalty straight from the kick off to allow Mullingar with a yellow card to Longford to boot.  To add insult to injury Mullingar ran in one more try before full time to leave the final score 25-11.  A big regroup is required for the tough trip to league leaders Wicklow next Sunday.  Remember kick off times move half an hour earlier in December, 2 PM for the J1s and 12.30 PM for the J2s.

Longford: P’O Farrell, H Connolly, D Quinn, D Geelan, B McManus, M McHugh, K O’Gorman, J Bennett, N Farrell, A Wynne, D Connolly, D McHugh, G McDermott, J McGowan, R McHugh, L Brady, J Geelan, Andrew Beirne, A Campbell, C Hughes.

Longford J2 Men also lost out on a similar score line to a physical Mullingar side.  The game was played in the bottom pitch with ground conditions heavy under foot, which suited the home side.  Longford probably had the advantage outside but struggled to get the ball efficiently out to wider channels and were penalised continuously for offences at the ruck.  The final score on the day was 22-10.  It was great to see the side finally get a run of games.  Hopefully, they will move their focus to avenging their agonising 25-26 loss at the start of the season away to Wicklow.

Post Match Comments from Longford RFC Head Coach Glenn Baskett

“After the game someone said to me take the positives out of that one. And I’m struggling too. I thought we had trained pretty during the week, prepped well but Mullingar brought more to the party than we did. Defensively they won the gain line, and our D was something we had prided ourselves on but today we weren’t where we needed to be. We lost that race. The amount of line breaks weren’t challenging enough. But to not have a set piece to launch from takes away half your attacking options. I do think the 2 week break came at the wrong time for us as we had built some momentum. And that on top the fallout from Tullow I think mentally we weren’t there this week. But that’s excuses, we didn’t perform to how we have done since Cill Dara. Now we are at the halfway point of the comp and we have work to do.”

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 Shay Murtagh Park

05/12/2021 Wicklow v Longford Ashtown Lane (1^st XV 2.00 2^nd XV 12.30)

12/12/2021 Longford v Boyne CPL Park (1^st XV 2.00 2^nd XV 12.30)

09/01/2021 Cill Dara v Longford Silken Thomas Park (1^st XV 2.30 2^nd XV 1.00)

16/01/2021 Longford v Clondalkin CPL Park (1^st XV 2.30 2^nd XV 1.00)

23/01/2021 Carlow v Longford Oak Park (1^st XV 2.30 2^nd XV 1.00)

06/02/2022 Tullow v Longford Black Gates (1^st XV 3 2^nd XV 1.30)

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

Senior Women’s Update

Longford Senior Women travelled to league leaders Naas and try as hard as they might were no match for the league leaders on the day.  They now regroup for another away trip to Garda/Westmanstown this Sunday.

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

12/12/2021 Portlaoise v Longford

16/01/2021 Longford v Naas CPL Park

30/01/2021 New Ross v Longford

06/02/2022 Longford v Arklow CPL Park

20/02/2022 Greystones v Longford

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

VERY LAST CHANCE TO TO BUY YOUR RAFFLE TICKET & SUPPORT LRFC

There is only a few days left to buy your ticket for the 2021 Your Club Your Country Raffle, all monies raised go straight to #Longford Rugby Club. Please Support Longford RFC!

Tickets are only €10 and can be bought at this link; https://bit.ly/3jihkQl.

The draw closes at 5 PM this Friday December 3rd.

Firstly, thanks to the 100 people who are responsible for all our ticket sales so far. We sincerely ask all our members, friends and followers to buy at least 1 ticket each, that will bring us a long way towards achieving all our ticket sales. We have 600 tickets left and only few days lef to sell them. Your support would mean a lot.

Please encourage your friends and family to buy one, who knows you might be packing your bags for New Zealand next Summer? Thank you for your support!

You can see details of the prizes on offer below.

Longford RFC are one of the most progressive clubs in the country. We field teams at all levels Male/Female throughout the age grades from U6 upwards. Building on the great developments in the club over the last number of years, we opened a brand new state of the art fully synthetic 4G pitch at the start of the season that is fully floodlight. Lots more plans are in the pipeline, so help us continue the good work and please buy a ticket!

Simon Community Sleep Out 2021 in partnership with the Longford RFC

The start of October saw the launch of a new partnership between Longford Rugby Club and the Simon Community for three years in the Sin Bin.  It also saw the official launch of the Simon Communities innovative sheltered housing project on Earl Street, which has helped 14 people move out of homelessness

Like all voluntary organisations the Simon Community and Longford RFC have seen a huge drop in fundraising due to Covid restrictions.  However, the costs continued to accumulate and this led to the innovative fundraising partnership between the two organisations.

The first fund raising event is the ‘annual’ Sleep Out event hosted by Longford RFC, where volunteers commit to spending a night under the stars to try and gain some small understanding of the daily struggle a homeless person endures. Sleepers are asked to raise as much sponsorship as possible, with all funds raised going to the Simon Community locally and Longford RFC.  The event will take place on Friday December 10^th with registration from 9 PM. 

If you would like to participate please contact Noel Greene 087 961 5766 or Gerry Larkin 086 819 5519 for information and sponsorship cards.

Thanks to Shannonside and Kiernan Steel for supporting the event.

Sin Bin

The Sin Bin Event Centre is back open as per Government Guidelines.  Superb food and drink are available across the weekend (Friday to Sunday) and lunch on Wednesday/Thursday.  Christmas nights are now also available for booking.

Phone 087 346 4914 for bookings or email sinbinbookings@outlook.com.  Check out the Sin Bins Facebook page for updates and specials;  www.facebook.com/thesinbinlongford/