Longwood cling on to lift deserved title

Longwood secured MFL Div 6 glory with a hard fought and thrilling 1-12 to 2-6 victory over a determined Donaghmore/Ashbourne side in Dunsany on Monday evening.

The teams had crossed swords in the opening round of the competition, Longwood losing out by just two points on that occasion, and the final was always likely to be just as close.

Longwood settled well and were on the scoreboard within a minute, an excellent foot pass by Conor M Dixon provided the opening to William Phillips who turned his marker and kicked a lovely point. No sign of nerves, at least for now!

The next 12 minutes would see both teams huff and puff without seeing any return on the scoreboard. Both teams kicked a number of poor wides, Longwood guilty of shooting from a little too far out from goals against the breeze. The deadlock was broken on 13 minutes when Conor Dixon embarked on one of his trademark runs from the half-back line to kick an excellent point off his right foot.

With young forwards Brooklyn O’Brien, Cian Swan and William Phillips leading the charge, Longwood were causing all sorts of problems for the opposition defence but worryingly this period of dominance was not being converted into scores.

Inevitably Donaghmore/Ashbourne would have a purple patch and so it transpired; they registered a goal and two points over the next 10 minutes with Longwood’s only reply coming from a William Phillips point.

Indeed, it could have been worse were it not for the heroics of Sandijs Buls, who pulled off a couple of excellent saves. Longwood have produced some incredible goalkeepers in recent years and Sandijs is undoubtedly one of the best young keepers in the county. Time and again he rescues his team when the defence has been breached.

With five minutes remaining in the opening half, Longwood found themselves two points in arrears, a disappointing situation given the amount of possession they had enjoyed.

In fairness to the boys, they didn’t drop their heads and feel sorry for themselves. Instead, they rallied with four unanswered points from Ben McLoughlin (two), Brooklyn O’Brien and Cian Swan, all four scores coming from play. A two-point deficit was turned into a two-point lead at the half-time break 0-7 to 1-2, a more accurate reflection of what had happened on the pitch.

As they had done in the opening period, Longwood were first to score after the break, Malachy Fisher kicking a fine point from a tight angle. Fisher gave a warrior like performance throughout the game, showing for the ball throughout despite being visibly restricted by a dead leg picked up in last week’s semi-final.

Within a minute Conor M Dixon kicked the first of his three second half points and the lead was out to four points. Brian Stagg, Laoghaire Connolly and Thomas Dorran were now securing plenty of possession from kick-outs, but scores were still hard to come by. That is testament to both sets of defenders who applied pressure to every shot at goal.

Longwood’s backline were tenacious throughout the contest, Fionn Hannon and Cian Colgan in particular giving a display of good corner-back play, getting out in front of their opponent to nearly every ball that came their way. They were ably supported by young Rian Duffy who slotted into the full back role with the minimum of fuss and turned in a very solid performance.

The half back trio of Joseph O’Neill, Conor Dixon and Thomas Dorran backed up their defensive colleagues with a display of non-stop endeavour and support play.

With four minutes to play, Cian Swan kicked a fantastic point to put Longwood four points clear. Breathing room? Not a chance.

Ashbourne responded with a point of their own. As the men in green pushed forward in search of an equalising score, Longwood won a turnover and broke upfield. Malachy Fisher bore down on goals and while his left footed shot was saved, Ben McLoughlin was on hand to coolly finish the rebound to the net. The large Longwood crowd roared their approval.

But there was more excitement to follow. In the final minute a Donaghmore/Ashbourne free was launched into the Longwood square and after the ball broke, it somehow ended up in the Longwood net.u

The margin was now just three points in Longwood’s favour and all eyes (and ears) were on the referee and his whistle!

In one final heart-stopping moment another high ball arrived on the edge of Longwood’s small square. After a frantic goalmouth scramble the ball was secured by Cian Colgan who protected the goal with his body, suffering a blow to the mouth for his trouble. As the Ashbourne players demanded a penalty, the referee remained calm and consulted with his umpires before awarding a free out to Longwood.

The final whistle soon followed, and the Longwood players and supporters could finally savour the sweet taste of success. It was a deserved victory for a team who had produced their best performances in the knock-out stages of the competition.

Fair play to the Donaghmore/Ashbourne lads – it takes two teams to make a game and they pushed Longwood right to the very end. Their coaches and supporters can be proud of their team.

Longwood captain, Brian Stagg, accepted the trophy from Francis Flynn to the cheers of team-mates, siblings, parents, grandparents and club members. It was fantastic to see such a large Longwood support at the game and Brian rightly thanked them all for coming along to cheer on the team.

Longwood - Sandijs Buls, Fionn Hannon, Rian Duffy, Cian Colgan, Thomas Dorran, Conor Dixon (0-1), Joseph O’Neill, Laoghaire Connolly, Brian Stagg (Capt.), Brooklyn O’Brien (0-1), Conor M Dixon (0-3), William Phillips (0-2), Ben McLoughlin (1-2), Malachy Fisher (0-1), Cian Swan (0-2).

So well done to the players. It’s been a long time since they won the U13 League back in 2019. A few players have left the panel in the intervening years, but the core bunch have stuck with it and this, combined with the infusion of young talent from the u-15 team, has paid dividends.

A special word for Cian O’Sullivan, Adam Peacock and Daniel Fahey – all key members of the panel who were unable to play in the final. We all know that we wouldn’t have reached the final without these boys and their enforced absence was definitely a motivating factor for the team on the night. We look forward to welcoming the boys back during the upcoming championship.