Slashers in great shape for St Mary’s showdown

With many teams recording their first wins in the Longford SFC, next weekend’s final round of games will be intriguing, with Longford Slashers v St Mary’s Granard the pick of the round.

Slashers, last year’s beaten finalists, overcame a dogged Mostrim side in the final game of the weekend, beating them 1-14 to 0-13.

In the preceding game, Colmcille recorded their first win when they defeated Ballymahon by four points — 0-13 to 0-9. Colmcille were in control of the game from the start.

The biggest winners of the second round were Abbeylara, who thumped St Brigid’s Killashee 7-17 to 0-4 on Thursday evening.

Killashee started brightly but once Abbeylara scored their first goal in the 16th minute it was a case of how big the winning margin was going to be. Jason Kelly was the main man for Abbey, scoring four goals.

County champions Emmet Og had to rely on a free from Sean McCormack with virtually the last kick of the game to draw with Clonguish on Friday night, 2-11 to 1-14. Clonguish will feel aggrieved they didn’t win the game because they were the better side throughout.

Paul Barden was once again instrumental for them, scoring a first-half goal and then setting up Shane O’Brien for their second in the 48th minute.

In Saturday’s double-header in Allen Park, St Columba’s got their first win of the championship with a 3-13 to 0-06 win over a poor Fr Manning Gaels.

Youngster Aiden McElligott got two first-half goals for the Mullinalaghta side.

A tally of 1-7 in 12 first-half minutes set Dromard on their way to a 1-14 to 0-08 win over St Mary’s Granard.

Granard were guilty of making a lot of mistakes in that opening half, which a very good Dromard side duly punished.