Youth Results

Longford U13 27 Carrick-on-Shannon 10

Longford U14 24 Edenderry 24

Longford U15 07 Dundalk 17

Longford U16 00 Boyne 29

Longford U17 07 Sligo 29

Longford U18 24 Clane 10          

Youth’s Fixtures

Leinster League

U13 Sat 13^th November v Birr Away

U14 Sat 13^th November v Tullamore Away

U15 Sat 13^th November v Athboy Away                    

U16 Sat 13^th November v North Kildare Away

U17 Sat 13^th November v Dundalk Away

U18 Sat 13^th November v North Kildare Home

Watch Facebook for time and venue changes.

Longford RFC Gear

The full range of Longford RFC gear (Shorts, Socks, Training Tops, T Shirts etc.) can be ordered on-line at www.uniformity.ie  

Coaching Courses

We are hoping to have a Foundation Level Coaching Course in the club in November. Anyone interested – existing or new – please contact Trevor McHugh (087) 2532614.

Match Report

U13 Friendly

Longford         27        Carrick-on-Shannon   10

Neighbours Carrick-on-Shannon RFC made the short journey to Longford to take on our Under 13s on a typical wet and windy morning. Following the previous week’s fruitless trip to Virginia RFC, the hosts were going to have to raise their game, with the prospect of two League away trips to Offaly in the coming weeks.

On a pitch largely bereft of markings, Longford won the toss and chose to play with the strong wind at their backs; a decision that was to put Longford on the front foot. Full-back Josh Sorohan was his usual indomitable self and collecting at the 22, drove hard for the line and touched down under the posts for the opener. Scrum-half Conor Clancy held his nerve to add the extras; a good start. Longford dominated the scrum, with recently recruited prop Daniel Taylor leading from the front in a man-of-the-match performance. From a Carrick scrum, James Brady hooked against the head and the back row seized their opportunity. The indefatigable Ronan Kavanagh carried strongly and from the resulting ruck, Aaron Oates picked and slipped down the blindside to make it 12-0.

Carrick took the game by the scruff and began to squeeze Longford in the midfield, running some dazzling lines, that surely would have yielded score but for the drift defence and precise tackling of Aaron Gilna. With the flurry over, Longford tightened up but a turnover in the visitors 22 Carrick cleared into the waiting arms of Callum McEntire, fielding in the swirling wind, before counter-attacking. Supported from wing Brendan Davis, McEntire superbly off-loaded in the tackle and Davis shimmied the awaiting tackle and diving over the line. Longford continued to turn the screw; Cormac Hoare driving in tight and with scrum-half Conor Clancy mopping up, Cormac McDonagh drove and drew the tackle; off-loading to Oisin O’Toole and the out-half duly obliged with another score.

22-0 at half-time, but with the conditions, this was always going to be the proverbial game of two halves. With the wind at their backs, Carrick began to dominate and deservedly got two tries, and suddenly the lead wasn’t so solid. However, Longford reverted to doing the basics right. Scrum-half Orinn Greene started driving the forwards to control up front (despite the best efforts of Aaron Oates and Cormac Hoare who had defected to the other side!). A new back-line looked confident; Dylan Reilly running lines to change the point of attack and combining with Patrick Kennedy to set up another platform. Moment of the match, though, was another newbie, second-row Kevin McDonagh, taking the initiative and bulldozing through the Carrick fringes for a 40 metre line-break; with flanker Mark Bracken clearing out the resulting counter-ruck. Centre Cole O’Connor pooped up from deep to bring forward towards the visitors 22, and Longford began to scent a try. It was left to the forwards to go through the phases and try start punching holes in the Carrick wall. Rory Maguire was first to drive, and added five metres; and with Greene marshalling his forwards, Conor McGovern picked and went; only to be held short. The fourth phase and a crack appeared in the Carrick armour; Kola Adejinmi picked and went for the line, unlucky not to score. A penalty had been accruing for an earlier infringement, and Longford reset themselves. The effervescent No 8, Jason Glancy was next to try and made some more yardage and set up again; presentation perfect for the oncoming Eoin McGrath who drove rhino-like and was unlucky to be held a yard short. This team has learnt lots this year and patience  is one new trait. Composing themselves,  a deep pass by Patrick Kennedy for the on-rushing flanker Cian Clancy, one of the hosts primary ball carriers, and with the power and strength the Tullow Tank would have been proud, rounded off a good day for Longford.

Many thanks to the coaches Liam & Paolo and the Carrick-on-Shannon squad for making the journey and we’re sure to reciprocate soon. Next up is the midland league, with a trip to Birr RFC on Saturday 14^th, followed by a trip to Tullamore RFC the following week. Training as usual on Wednesday night, with tag at 7pm and training starting at 7:30

U14 Leinster League

Longford       24          Edenderry        24

Longford’s hopes of advancing to the concluding stages of the Midland League are still very much alive and they also remain undefeated in the preliminary Phase of this year’s Leinster League following a 24-24 draw against Edenderry on Saturday in a game which doubled up as a Midland League and Leinster League fixture.  It was a classic game of two halves, Longford totally dominant in the first half running in four tries but the enormous Edenderry pack taking almost complete control in the second period.

From Longford’s point of view, the first half was as good an exhibition of open running rugby as one could hope to witness with the back line on fire.  The tone was set from the outset, Longford moving the ball wide at every opportunity and when Killian Rawle was held up short of the line following a sweeping movement from left to right the ball was swiftly transferred across the backline in the opposite direction for Daire McManus to score wide on the left with only two minutes on the clock.  The one blemish on an otherwise outstanding first half performance was a recurrence of Longford’s one major failing so far this year, Edenderry capitalising on some slack defending at a tap penalty.  With their kicker adding the extra points Edenderry found themselves ahead by 7-5 but the rest of the half totally belonged to Longford.  After seven minutes Longford regained the lead with Daire McManus scoring beneath the posts after good support play from James Doyle following a ruck steal.

With Ben Carthy adding the extra points from the conversion attempt Longford had regained their five point advantage and this could have been extended further when Killian Rawle was again held up short of the line following an outstanding piece of individual skill when he collected a kick chase from Shane Mallon.  Having been denied twice, however, he got his just rewards five minutes later with a try beneath the posts following yet another excellent back line movement.  With Ben Carthy again adding the extra points Longford had extended their lead to a deserving 12 points. Just before the half time break Longford extended their lead by a further five points.  Following a scrum in their own 22 a panicky Edenderry defence tried to kick to safety but when Shane Mallon collected the ball JJ Jackson barged his way over following a succession of rucks close to the Edenderry try line.

The second half, unfortunately, was a different affair altogether, Edenderry reverting to the possession game using their huge front row to rumble forward at every opportunity.  Despite some heroic defending and tackling from, in particular, Conor Cox and Dylan Fay Longford simply could not contain the Edenderry tide.  Their first try came after 14 minutes when they barged over following a succession of rucks and penalties on the Longford line.  The second came five minutes later when they skipped through slack tackling.  On the couple of occasions when Longford did get out of their own half they simply could not penetrate the Edenderry defence.  For the last 10 minutes it was backs to the wall stuff and deep into added time Edenderry rumbled over for a try which they failed to convert leaving the sides even at 24-24.

Squad: Gary Kenny, Mark McHugh, Jack McManus, Ciaran Shannon, JJ Jackson, Dylan Fay, Conor Cox, Ciaran McCormack, Ben Carthy, Ultan O’Sullivan, Daire McManus, Thomas McDermott, Aaron Farrell, Shane Mallon, James Doyle, Christopher Manning, Charlie Patterson, Fionn Hourican, Frank Patterson, Jamie Byrne, Killian Rawle, Shane Gettings, Maksymillian Napieralski, Brendan Creegan, Kevin O’Neill, Daniel Lynch, Michael Lynch.

U15 Leinster League

Longford       7          Dundalk        17

Longford 15's had their third round of the Leinster league on Saturday.  The opponents were Dundalk who are the top team in our league and represented a big challenge.

Longford started very well with a lot of intensity at the breakdown and some fearless tackling for the first quarter.  Jack Finnegan was particularly noteworthy throughout the day with some outstanding tackles and great counter attacking skills.  Simon Morehead also had a great day running some excellent lines and pinned Dundalk in their half with accurate touch kicking.  James Brown also tested the Dundalk defence with strong running and broke the lines a number of times. It was around the 20 minute mark when the large Dundalk second row walked through the defence to touchdown under the post.  This was totally against the run of play and due to a complete loss of concentration by Longford.  Longford then piled on the pressure and were camped in the Dundalk 22 for the next 10 minutes.  Dundalk did very well to hold them out and the half finished 7-0 to Dundalk.

Dundalk started the second half with renewed confidence and were rewarded with a try after 5 minutes.  They scored the conversion to leave the score at 14-0.  This was a big challenge to Longford but they did not buckle and dominated Dundalk for the rest of the game.

David Connolly tackled tirelessly and scored a number of turnovers.   Craig Gorman also deserves a mention for his aggression and a powerful individual performance.  Man of the Match has to go to Gareth O'Hara for the powerful running and leadership on the day.  Despite being raked and battered he insisted on staying on and was rewarded on the next play by scoring a fantastic try with just 3 minutes to go. Simon converted the try with an accurate kick from close to the touchline.  Longford had three minutes to score a try to tie up the game but this looked very possible such was their dominance.  Unfortunately, Dundalk gathered a loose ball and ran the length of the pitch to finish Longford hopes and the match with the score at 19-7.  Overall it was a much improved performance by Longford.

U16 Leinster League

Longford       0          Boyne            29

This was never going to be an easy task against the Pool leaders and it looked after the opening minutes that it was going to be a long day. Boyne attached with purpose and having recycled the ball a number of times the right wing sped in for a try in the corner. Longford to their credit took the game back to Boyne and settled into a pattern indicating that they were just rusty having not played a game in 3 weeks.

Daragh O’Toole was a tower in the line out – not forgetting the role of his 2 lifters Tomy gilheany and Calum Delaney. O’Toole’s game has improved immeasurably this season since the took on the line out jumper role and this could be seen in his loose game as well. The half back pairing of Ronan Bleakley and Ryan McHugh at 9 & 10 respectively was also a positive from the game. The pack did well at scum time holding our own ball despite being under pressure but did give up too much ball in the loose. Tom Gilheany was the go to man but Boyne had him marked from the outset – although a subtle and beautifully weighed pass on the right wing from him almost set Luca Noak-Hofmann clear. Eoin Reilly gave another excellent committed display and the speed that he is picking up the game is making him one to watch. There was a sustained period of pressure on the Boyne line towards the end of the first half with Boyne under the cosh eventually getting a yellow card. But even with this Longford were not able to breach the line.

An abundance of forwards meant that Luke McIntyre and Daire O’Brien had to shore up midfield and they managed to keep Boyne at bay in the first half. Liam Sheridan was solid a full back and willing to run back at the opposition. Ryan Corcoran was back in action after an injury layoff. A lack of ball and a soggy pitch all conspired to work against his trademark jinking play that inevitably brought us a score. The back row of Conor Craig and Peadar Kenny could not get go forward ball and defensive work was the order of the day and there were sparks of hope from the big second rows Gabriel Gray and Christy Sullivan. Nicolas Moore and Cormac McMahon added fresh legs for the second half that gave us a short term impetus but Boyne managed a further 3 tries.

2 more games left in the pool before the regrading of the Leagues so these need to be used to ready ourselves for the real League campaign.

Team:

Calum Delaney, Daragh O’Toole, Eoin Reilly, Gabriel Gray, Christy Sullivan, Conor Craig, Peadar Kenny, Tom Gilheany, Ronan Bleakley, Ryan McHugh, Luke McIntyre, Daire O’Brien, Ryan Corcoran , Luca Noak-Hofman, Liam Sheridan, Cormac McMahon, Nicolas Moore.