Longwood 1-18 St Colmcille’s 1-9

Longwood registered their first league win of the season with a comprehensive victory over St Colmcille’s on Sunday morning.

A win was imperative for Longwood and they duly delivered.  Almost as important as the league points on offer, was the much-improved level of performance across the hour. Fruits of the labour of the players and their coaches, Eoghan Kevlihan and Joe Corroon, on the training field over the past number of weeks.

And yet things didn’t start well for Longwood as they conceded a goal in the opening forty seconds of the game. A high ball caused consternation in the goalmouth and was eventually palmed to the net. Not the start we were looking for but at least there was time to rectify it.

Crucially Longwood registered the next score when Harry Hogan kicked a two-point free to take the sting out of the early goal. Hogan’s accuracy from frees was to be a key aspect of the game.

Longwood raised their own green flag on six minutes when Harry Leigh surged forward before beating the goalkeeper with a deft flick of his right boot.  A quality finish from an excellent young player.

Longwood were now in front and would never relinquish the lead. 

Excellent points from the pacy Cian Swan and Ciaran Sheridan extended the advantage before the seasiders responded with a couple of points of their own.

When the referee blew the half-time whistle the home team led by three points, 1-6 to 1-3.

The early minutes of the second period may have given cause for concern as St Colmcille’s kicked the opening two points and the deficit was down to just a solitary point. 

But Longwood were not in the mood to capitulate and a Ryan Moore point settled the nerves. 

A brace of frees from Harry Hogan was followed by an excellent score by Tomás O’Brien and the lead was out to five points. 

The next ten minutes saw Longwood exert a degree of control on the game, their hard-working midfield duo of Brian Stagg and Damien Healy very much to the fore.

Three further two-pointers from Harry Hogan put the seal on the victory. The sharpshooter would finish with an impressive 0-12 to his name.

Credit must also go to the home defence who recovered from the concession of an early goal and restricted the visitors to just a further seven scores from play over the hour.

So, a good win for the lads and a solid foundation upon which they can build. But they are well aware that more is needed if want to make progress up the league table.

Longwood: Anthony Healy, Coyle O’Brien, Sean Carpenter, Kevin Maguire, Tomás O’Brien (0-1), Harry Leigh (1-0), Cian Swan (0-1), Brian Stagg, Damien Healy, Ryan Moore (0-1), Harry Hogan (0-12), Sean Sheridan, Ciaran Sheridan (0-2), Conor Dixon (0-1), Sean Coloe. Subs: Cian O’Sullivan for Kevin Maguire, Ronan Greene for Tomás O’Brien, Conor M Dixon for Sean Sheridan, Jason Kerrigan for Cian Swan.

A busy week ahead sees our reserve team host Curraha on Thursday evening before our first team welcome St Ultan’s next Sunday morning.

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