Hurlers finish second best in league decider

10.04.10 | Monaghan 1-18 Longford 1-10 | By Jonathan O’Meara

Longford's hope of claiming their first National Hurling League title in almost 7 years were stopped in their tracks last Saturday, after a potent Monaghan side overpowered their Leinster counterparts to secure their promotion to division three. 


The midlanders played with the deceiving wind advantage during the first period, but unfortunately for them they were unable to use this to its full potential. 


Monaghan on the contrary emerged in the second half and bridged a four point deficit and then stormed ahead closing out the contest with eight points to spare at the full-time whistle.


Having been defeated by Monaghan already this year, Longford did not take their Ulster counterparts for granted. Their preparation was somewhat dented ahead of this encounter after they lost two key defenders Robert Ryland and Seanie Stakem to injury.

Tom Lynam's outfit dictated the pace of the contest in the opening stages and a long range Declan Tanner free set them on their way. Their lead doubled four minutes later when Longford Slashers man Gareth Ghee found the target from the placed ball. 


The Ulster men finally registered their opening point in the 9th minute, when their roaming full-forward Sean Leonard picked up possession 45 metres from the Longford goal and made room for himself on the right wing and slotted over an excellent score. 


Eager to increase their foothold on proceedings before the half time interval, the midlanders pushed deeper into Monaghan territory and they reaped the rewards on the 15th minute mark when they bagged the games first goal. 


Gareth Ghee broke down the right flank fending off unwanted attention before playing a pin point pass to Stephen Lynam. 
Lynam failed to control the breaking ball and it fell out to Joe O'Brien who controlled the sliotar on his hurl and in one sweeping motion fired the ball to the roof of the Monaghan net.


Longford continued to search for scores before the end of the half beckoned, but poor shooting in front of the sticks was a major problem for their six forwards and midfielders.

Despite this Longford refused to become disheartened and two excellent created points from Mark Cassidy and Declan Tanner respectively gave them a five point advantage with 15 minutes remaining to the break. 


Luckily however for Monaghan, their free taker Michael McHugh was on song in the free taking department and he kept them in touch with three points in the final stages to narrow the gap back to four points at the turnover.


With the aid fresh wind behind them, Monaghan continued to chip away at Longford's advantage after the break and they reduced the margins back to two points when they fired over two in quick succession compliments of McHugh and a long range effort from midfielder Brian Phelan. 


They hit their purple patch in the 40th minute when they fired over another four points on the trot. Wing-back Declan Crowe was also causing huge problems for his maker Declan Tanner and on numerous occasions he got the opportunity to push into the scoring zone and picked off a couple of points. 


The momentum now completely with Monaghan, and a brace of points from Monaghan's Michael McHugh in the 49th and 52nd minute put them into a four point ascendancy. 


With ten minutes remaining in this entertaining encounter, the point of no return arrived for Longford, when Monaghan netted their only goal in the 54th minute.

Midfielder Trevor Hillard broke free on the right wing and attempted to float a pass into the danger zone, but a mix up between Longford's full-back line and goal keeper Patrick Cullen allowed the ball to slip past dipping into the top corner of the net.

Nevertheless Longford continued to search for a way back, but on every occasion they tried to prise the door open it was shut firmly.

Longford's top scorer on the day Gareth Ghee added another three to his tally in the closing minutes and in doing so bridged the cap back to six, but Monghan's man-of-the-match Michael McHugh had the last say with two further points to add to his impressive 11 point total.

Scorers - Monaghan: M McHugh 0-10 (8f); T Hilliard 1-0; S Leonard, D Crowe 0-2 each; B McGuigan, B Phelan, M Lennon, K Boylan 0-1 each. Longford: G Ghee 0-5 (3f); J O'Brien 1-0; S Hannon, E Donnellan (1f) 0-2; M Cassidy 0-1.

MONAGHAN: Hugh Byrne; Pauric Dowdall, Paul Murphy, Aidan Kerr; Declan Crowe, Seamus Loftus, Johnny McAnespie; Trevor Hilliard, Brian Phelan; Kevin Boylan, Sean Leonard, Brian McGuigan; Ronan Meegan, Michael McHugh, Michael Lennon. 



Subs used:- Dermot Beirne for R. Meegan (59 minsd); Aidan Og McAnespie for B. Phelan (inj, 61 mins).



LONGFORD: Paddy Cullen; Ciaran Finnucane, Thomas Stakem, Fergal Daly; Rory Donnellan, Seamus Hannon, Conor Egan; Sean Browne, Eoin Donnellan; Gareth Ghee, Declan Tanner, Mark Cassidy; Joe O'Brien, John Newman, Stephen Lynam. 



Subs used:- John Minnock for C. Finnucane (ht); Enda Corcoran for J. Newman (65 mins); John Lynam for R. Donnellan (65 mins).



REFEREE: Eamonn Hasson (Derry).

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