Slashers are back as the kings of Longford football in winning 14th county senior title

26.09.10 | SFC Final | Longford Slashers 0- 11 Dromard 1- 5

Padraic O'Brien reporting from Pearse Park

Although just three points separated the sides in the finish as Dromard staged a late comeback with a goal from Cian Mimnagh in the 58th minute, Longford Slashers were unquestionably the superior side as they won the senior football championship title for the first time in 16 years much to the sheer delight of their supporters among the 4,500 county final attendance at Pearse Park on Sunday last.

Under the driving force of their so influential coach Denis Connerton, Slashers are back as kings of Longford football in capturing the coveted Connolly Cup that they last lifted back in 1994 and the townies can now look forward with considerable confidence to a clash against the Westmeath champions (Garrycastle or Mullingar Shamrocks) in the first round of the Leinster Club Championship in Cusack Park, Mullingar on Sunday October 24th.

In his first season as manager, Connerton has used his vast experience to revitalise Slashers and the players showed a lot of character in recovering from the   bitter disappointment of losing the 2006 and 2008 finals. Another failure at the last hurdle would have been a huge blow and while Slashers were in command for the best part of the game, they almost let the county title slip from their grasp in a tense and exciting finish.

Trailing by 0-10 to 0-3 with just three minutes of normal time remaining, Dromard were thrown a lifeline with a point (free) and a cracking goal from Cian Mimnagh who fired the ball into the corner of the net past the Slashers keeper Gordon Hourican who was beaten for the first time in this year's championship campaign after keeping his net intact in the previous five games.

It was a quality strike from Mimnagh who latched on to a centre from John Sheridan to give the Dromard supporters something to shout about and the gap was remarkably reduced to just two points when Jamsie Martin converted a free in the 59th minute.

All of a sudden Slashers were under a lot of pressure and another goal might well have materialised moments later when the ball broke to Jamsie in a frantic scramble in front of the posts but    defender Gareth Ghee got a vital touch to prevent Martin from finding the net and giving Dromard the lead.

That was a very lucky escape indeed for Slashers who regained their composure to consolidate their slender advantage and two minutes into stoppage time the richly deserved success was eventually clinched when Colin Smith landed a brilliantly struck free from near the sideline.

Dromard were left to rue a number of missed chances during the course of this otherwise disappointing county final such was the dominance enjoyed by Slashers and the losers were guilty of kicking a total of eleven wides (five frees) as they crashed to a second successive defeat in the Connolly Cup decider.

While the long term injured Francis McGee was sorely missed from a generally dismal Dromard attack, it must be said that the Slashers defence were superb up until those shaky final few minutes and particularly impressive were the resolute half-back-line of Paul Kelly, Dermot Brady and Peter Brady who closed down the opposition in most emphatic fashion.

Kelly was outstanding in the first half as he surged forward at almost every opportunity, setting up those vital three scores just before the break, and he must have been a strong contender for the man-of-the-match award that went to midfielder David Sheridan who played consistently well throughout the game and was involved in quite a few of the attacks.

Sheridan enjoyed his finest hour for Slashers and formed a most effective midfield partnership with the powerful Niall Mulligan whose penetrating runs provided a constant threat for the Dromard defence who were split wide open on a number of occasions and were fortunate not to concede a goal with Damien Sheridan coming to the rescue in making a great point-blank save to deny Colin Smith in the 23rd minute of the first half.

Mulligan must also have been in contention for the man-of the-match honour as he scored a couple of cracking points but the overall Slashers display in the first half was excellent and it was always going to be difficult to keep that high level of intensity going on the changeover.

Wing forward-come-extra defender Trevor Clendenning was also very much to the fore for the new county champions and his workrate was immense while Stephen Phillips was very busy in winning a lot of possession in attack - operating effectively as the playmaker.

Although Slashers only shot a total of six wides (three in each half), several poor scoring attempts dropped harmlessly short (mostly into the arms of opposing keeper Damien Sheridan) and Dromard were fortunate not to be even further behind at the break such was their fierce struggle to make any sort of impact on the game.

The absence of chief marksman Francis McGee proved to be too big of a handicap and while Dromard got off to a good start with a well struck point from Jamsie Martin in the 2nd minute, Slashers gradually settled down after missing a few chances and got their first score in the 6th minute when Colin Smith fired over a free.

Moments later Niall Mulligan put David Sheridan through for a goal chance but he elected to fist the ball over the bar and then Mulligan surged forward again to get his name on the scoresheet, landing a wonderful point in the 11th minute.

The Smith brothers Mark and Colin then linked up in a slick move that yielded a delightful point from Mark and he was on target again in the 16th minute when kicking over a free to leave Slashers in a fairly comfortable 0-5 to 0-1 lead.

Dromard improved in coming more into the game in the second quarter and after Jamsie Martin registered his sides first wide in the 19th minute, Cian Mimnagh landed a glorious long range point in the 22nd minute.

Then came the Colin Smith goal chance (set up by David Sheridan) that was saved by Damien
Sheridan and while Dromard quickly regained the upper hand they kicked three costly wides in a row which proved to be a significant factor as Slashers finished the first half strongly in adding three more points to their tally.

That was some swing as Stephen Phillips, Philip Dobson and Niall Mulligan fired over fine points between the 29th minute and the second minute of stoppage time to leave the sky-blues 0-8 to 0-2 ahead at the break and things did not get much better for Dromard in the second half despite enjoying a fair amount of possession as Slashers protected their six-point advantage.

Cian Mimnagh was unlucky to hit the top of the crossbar from a free and a few other chances were squandered by both sides before Dromard got the first score of the second half in the 43rd minute when Peter Masterson raced through to land a great long range point.

Slashers eventually scored again when Colin Smith converted a free in the 46th minute that was awarded for a foul on Trevor Clendenning and David Sheridan then set up Colin Smith for a good score from play in the 52nd minute to leave Slashers in cruise control, 0-10 to 0-3 in front, and Dromard appeared to be dead and buried.

Two more frees were missed as Cian Mimnagh and Ronan McEntire registered wides but Dromard battled it out to the bitter end and a very dull game suddenly came to life when Slashers conceded 1-2 in the space of a couple of minutes.

But the Mimnagh goal came too late to save Dromard from defeat as Longford Slashers held out for a long overdue senior title triumph and nobody can argue with the fact that Denis Connerton's charges are worthy county champions.

LONGFORD SLASHERS: Gordon Hourican; Dominic Glennon, Barry Gilleran, Gareth Ghee; Peter Brady, Dermot Brady, Paul Kelly; Niall Mulligan (0-2), David Sheridan (0-1);Trevor Clendenning, Colin Smith (0-4, three frees), Adrian Murphy; Mark Smith (0-2, one free), Stephen Phillips (0-1), Philip Dobson (0-1).

Subs:- Sean Flynn for P Dobson (53 mins); Thomas O'Rourke for P Brady (injured, 59 mins); Martin Tarmey for A Murphy (60 mins).

DROMARD: Damien Sheridan; Peter Reynolds, Paul McGee, Cathal Conefrey; John Sheridan, Niall Vance, Padraic Martin; Diarmuid Masterson, Donal Sheridan; David Pettit, Cian Mimnagh (1-2, one point from free), Peter Masterson (0-1); Jamsie Martin (0-2, one free), Declan Mimnagh, Ronan McEntire.

Subs:- Kevin Donohoe for P Martin (injured, 25 mins); Bernard Sheridan for Donal Sheridan (injured, half-time); Noel Reynolds for B Sheridan (48 mins); Peadar Faughnan for D Mimnagh (58 mins).

Referee: Derek Fahy (Ballymahon).

Longford Slashers players celebrate with the Sean Connolly Cup after thier senior championship success 

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