Barden brothers help Longford to shock win

Westmeath 1-13 Longford 2-12

Longford closed out a famous second Division 1A victory at Mullingar as the Barden brothers Paul and David ruled the roost.

They scored two goals between them as they reeled in a four-point deficit against Westmeath to win out 2-12 to 1-13.

Last Saturday night’s man-of-the-match for Westmeath Martin Flanagan and substitute Dessie Dolan scored a goal and eight points but the Bardens outdid them as a late haul of 1-1 from corner forward David, who was sent off in the eighth minute of injury time, sealed their second win of the campaign.

Flanagan, scorer of 0-03 in the draw against Cork, struck home a 28th minute penalty as the ball spun into the Longford net despite goalkeeper Damien Sheridan’s left arm block.

The home side’s 1-07 to 0-06 interval lead looked far from comfortable early on as Padraig Davis pointed from a free for the visitors and Niall Sheridan flashed a goal chance right and wide.

Westmeath answered back through scores from Joe Fallon (free) and corner forward Denis Glennon from play before his forward colleague James Conroy was substituted for a blood injury, with Dolan coming on to great effect.

He went on to score four first-half points before Longford rallied with late scores through midfielder Fintan Coyle, Paul Barden and Davis to end the half four points behind.

The second-half sparked into life in front of just over 9,000 spectators, as half forward Paul Barden volleyed home an excellent goal following Dolan’s fifth point and the sending off of Westmeath midfielder Rory O’Connell for a straight red challenge on 43 minutes.

That put them just a single point behind.

Longford half back David Hannify exchanged a brace of points with Dolan before Paul Barden initiated a move down the right flank, crossing for his brother to crash the ball into the net with nine minutes remaining.

Veteran Padraig Davis pointed into injury time putting Longford in front 2-11 to 1-13 and David Barden opened up a two-point lead before his second yellow card.