Comfortable win for Longford

By Kevin Egan

Longford 2-15 Carlow 1-8

Two goals in the space of three minutes early in the second half helped fire Longford to a comfortable win over Carlow in the first round of the qualifiers tonight.

That brief period of life and energy was one of very few highlights in an otherwise stale and one-sided encounter at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford.

A tricky diagonal breeze made life tough for both teams, but Longford made the best of it in the first half, building up a 0-7 to 0-4 interval lead with Liam Connerton very much to the fore.

Connerton and Dessie Reynolds blasted second half goals either side of a Daryl Roberts reply and Longford cruised home from there to secure their place in Monday morning’s round two draw.

The final margin of 10 points might suggest that Longford could be poised to go deep into these qualifiers but in truth that gap owed more to the paucity of Carlow’s attack, a misfiring unit in which no player scored more than once from play.

Three early Longford points got the hosts out to a far better start but it looked as if Carlow were set to make a fight of it when Brian Murphy got them off the mark in the 13th minute. David Bambrick followed up with a stunning score from long range.

Carlow drew level at 0-4 apiece but they were living on the edge at the back and needed crucial saves from Robbie Molloy and Darragh Foley to prevent Longford from finding the net.

Even so, it was Longford who moved three points clear by half time through points from Diarmuid Masterson, Liam Connerton and Brian Kavanagh.

The bookmakers offered 14/1 about Carlow at half time, despite the manageable 0-7 to 0-4 deficit, and Carlow certainly looked well up for the challenge in the early stages of the second half when Graham Power and Michael Meaney struck glorious points from play that would have lit up any stage.

Longford, in contrast, made some poor decisions on the ball and some rashly struck wides from Peter Foy and Diarmuid Masterson kept Carlow in contention.

However as it turned out, one such hit-and-hope delivery from Masterson after 47 minutes turned out to be a game breaker.

The wing back’s skyscraper delivery dropped into the right corner forward position but Danny Moran failed to judge it correctly, allowing Liam Connerton to sneak in and then set up Dessie Reynolds, who in turn produced a cool and accurate finish underneath Molloy.

Carlow bounced back with a lobbed goal from Daryl Roberts, capitalising on great approach play from Brian Murphy and Sean Gannon - but their hope was extinguished as quickly as it sprung to life.

During the next attack, Connerton collected a long ball, sprinted past his marker on the turn and blasted the ball to the net in the 50th minute - the third major in a little over three minutes.

The flurry of goals may have given the supporters something to shout about, but such was the paucity of imagination and craft in the Carlow attacking unit, the five-point gap effectively settled the tie. The visitors continued to battle gamely, showing no shortage of intensity or vigour, but they ran into heavy Longford traffic when trying to carry the ball in on goal and by the time the final whistle sounded, no Carlow player had scored more than once from play.

Longford were able to move through the gears in the closing stages and they added late scores from Fergal Battrim, Michael Quinn and Ronan McEntire to bring about a double figure winning margin and secure their place in Monday morning’s round two draw, where they will be placed alongside either Roscommon, Clare, or the losing team in the upcoming Monaghan vs Fermanagh and Dublin vs Kildare ties.

Longford: P Collum; D Brady, B O’Farrell, F Battrim (0-1); CP Smyth, B Gilleran, D Masterson (0-2); M

Quinn (0-1), K Diffley; P Foy, D Reynolds (1-1), R McEntire (0-1); R Connor, B Kavanagh (0-7, 6f), L Connerton (1-2).

Subs: P Gill for Foy (46), T Gallagher for Masterson (61), R McNerney for Reynolds (65), C Quaine for Kavanagh (68), A Farrell for Gilleran (70)

Carlow: R Molloy; D Kelly, S Redmond, K Nolan; G Power, D Hayden, B Kavanagh; S Gannon, E Ruth (0-1); M Meaney (0-1), D Foley, D Bambrick (0-1); B Murphy (0-3, 2f), D St Ledger (0-1f), D Roberts (1-0)

Subs: D Moran for Kelly (19), C Moran for Bambrick (56), E Finnegan for Meaney (61), D O’Brien for Roberts (63), A Kelly for Ruth (67), M Fitzgerald for Kavanagh (67)

Referee: David Gough (Meath)