Longford minors cruised to an eight-point victory over an inferior Wexford outfit at a blustery Pearse Park last Saturday in the Leinster Minor Football Championship Qualifiers 1.

The Midlanders took full advantage of the strong gales in the second half, while the impressive performance from full-forward James McGivney who bagged a remarkable 1-5 helped their cause greatly. 


Things were looking good for the hosts with almost 20 minutes of football played, and they held a five point advantage. Wexford however worked extremely hard in the final ten minutes and excellent shooting from midfielder Jonathan Bealin (son of former Dublin footballer Paul Bealin) reduced the deficit back and they amazingly grabbed the lead just before the interval.

The Model County were unable to sustain their supremacy into the second half as Longford increased the tempo with McGivney and Mark Hughes their main playmakers.

An excellent acute point from McGivney on the 39th minute earned them parity, while further points from Cillian Lynn and goal from Mark Hughes wrapped up the contest in the closing minutes.

Playing with the aid of the strong wind in the first half, Wexford came close to registering the first goal in the second minute. A long ball pumped into the danger zone found Bealin on the edge of the square and his thundering shot rebounded off the cross bar unbeknown to the Longford keeper.


The visitors continued to apply all the early pressure and they opened the scoring moments later, when corner-forward Sean Ring hit the target from a close range free.

The home side produced their own goal chance on the 12th minute mark, Killoe clubman Mark Hughes played McGivney clear on goal, but he could not keep his shot on target, firing over the bar. 


Longford extended their lead with 12 minutes remaining to the half time break after they bagged their first goal of the contest. Darren Gallagher played a long ball into Robbie Smyth's corner and he gingerly palmed the ball into the path of James McGivney who finished off a wonderful move.

Ciaran Fox's side did not have time to rest on their laurels as the Yellow Bellies responded in the best possible fashion. They eventually breached Longford's defence in the 20th minute. Colm Kehoe lobbed in a teasing ball in the goal mouth where Sean Ring jumped the highest and latched onto the breaking ball directing it into the roof of an open net.

This goal spurred on the visitors and they produced their best spell of football firing over four points on the trot to give them a two point lead at the half time interval. Midfielder Jonathan Bealin proved to be a real handful during this period and he contributed three points to their scoring tally, while a final point from centre-forward Glen Murphy concluded the first half action.

On the turn over, Longford quickly turned things around and they squared up the tie after James Noonan and Mark Hughes respectively raised the white flag. 


With the blustery weather conditions now favouring the Midlanders, they started to regain control and further points from Cillian Lynn (45) and an excellent tight angle effort from James McGivney put them well in control.

Wexford to their credit did try to instigate a come back in the final five minutes, when Jonathan Bealin came close from a long range shot, but they were then caught on the counter after Mark Hughes got goal side and wrapped up the encounter with a brilliant finish at the near post.

Longford displayed good character to come back from their defeat at O'Connor Park two weeks ago and this victory will restore much needed confidence, as they now prepare for their next round encounter against Carlow in two weeks.

Scorers: Longford: J McGivney 1-5, D Gallagher 0-1f, J Noonan 0-1, M Hughes 1-3(2f), C Lynn 0-1, ’45, P Byrne 0-1. Wexford: J Bealin 0-5(4f), G Murphy 0-1, S Ring 1-1f.

LONGFORD: Paddy Collum, Darragh Bennet, Oisin Farrell, Ronan Keogh, Conor Clarke, Dylan Quinn, Shane Donoghue, James McGivney, Darren Gallagher, Darren Farrelly, Padriag McCormack, Diarmuid Cooney, Robbie Smyth, James Noonan, Mark Hughes.

Subs Used:- Darren Reilly for O. Farrell (42 mins), Pedro Byrne for D. Farrelly (42 mins), Cillian Lynn for J. Noonan (48 mins), Tom Madden for S. Donoghue (58 mins), Charlie Martin for M. Hughes (60 mins).

WEXFORD: Cormac O’Brien, Tomas Cullen, Paraic O’Leary, Eddie Hughes, Gavin Murphy, Graham Carty, Shane Griffith, Michael Bowler, Jonathon Bealin, Stephen Hughes, Glen Murphy, Aoidh Doyle, Graeme Cullen, Colm Kehoe, Sean Ring.  

Subs Used:- Kieran Butler for S. Ring (15 mins), Matthew Cody for P. O’Leary (15 mins) Joey Ahern for G. Carty (34 mins), Dean Wright for S. Hughes (46 mins), Niall Moore for A. Doyle (54 mins).

REFEREE: Niall Ward (Meath).