Leinster SFC First round - Laois 0-10 Longford 0-9:LIKE DONEGAL a week previously, Laois followed up on promotion back to Division One with a torpid championship victory and will hope for better when they face Dublin in next month's Leinster championship quarter-final.
Unlike Donegal, Laois had to sweat more than a bit to overcome a battling challenge from a Longford team that will feel they left behind them a very real opportunity to win the opening match in Portlaoise yesterday.
Despite a good start and the strong suggestion that they had more in hand, Laois lost the initiative in the second half and were fortunate the underdogs didn’t make more of their chances, instead of ending up with 16 wides.
The home side could argue that they missed four goal chances in the second half – three of them clear-cut – which if converted would have buried the match.
Laois manager Justin McNulty accepted that the display had been disappointing but ascribed it to nerves and the pressure of being such strong favourites.
They started well and led by three after seven minutes: Billy Sheehan and Dáithí Carroll, shared the opening scores between them.
In the early stages Laois were far more composed in possession and able to hold the ball in attack whereas their opponents struggled to make it stick on the occasion they could launch attacks.
It was a frustrating afternoon for Longford’s Brian Kavanagh, who won plenty possession but lost the ball a few times and was generally unable to get his shots away. He did however redistribute most of the ball which reached him with vision and accuracy.
This was unsurprising in the first half when Longford faced a strong wind but after half-time it was expected the Kilmacud marksman would let fly a bit more but he managed just the one point and one wide.
At the other end of the field his counterpart, Laois’s talented centre forward John O’Loughlin had a similarly subdued afternoon in the company of debutant Kevin Diffley. Dermot Brady had a storming match for Longford, keeping a sharp eye on his corner and bursting out of defence frequently when in possession.
Laois maintained the three-point lead nearly to the break, having replenished it twice but David Barden’s forceful run created a chance for Michael Brady to close the interval margin to two, 0-4 to 0-6.
The wides had already begun to take a toll on Longford, whose share of the play had increased steadily but they wasted a number of good openings created by the energy of Paddy Dowd and Paul Barden as well as by Kavanagh’s use of the ball.
Donal McElligott, named at corner forward but withdrawn to a deeper position, worked hard but his role allowed Peter O’Leary the scope to make a telling contribution and he recycled a lot of ball throughout the afternoon.
Damien Sheridan had a sound afternoon in goal, plucking down a number of under-cooked shots and making one fine stop in the second half but his efforts on the other goal didn’t work as well and he sent two first-half 45s wide.
Longford seized the initiative in the third quarter and levelled the match at 0-6 each through a free from Bernard McElvaney and a point from their most productive forward Seán McCormack.
Carroll immediately restored the lead and Laois were more attentive in the final quarter. Ross Munnelly kicked a free and Niall Donoher scored two points to open up a two-point lead twice and although Kavanagh cut the margin to one with three minutes left, Longford couldn’t force the match into extra time.
McNulty said afterwards. “Obviously the performance leaves an awful lot to be desired. It leaves us with major areas for improvement for the next day, which we know are obviously going to be big time required coming up against a Dublin team who are serious All-Ireland contenders.”
His Longford counterpart Glenn Ryan was crestfallen.
“Very disappointed,” he said. “It was a game we could have won but we just didn’t go through with it. When you’re beaten by a point it’s certainly a stat (16 wides) that stands out.”
LAOIS: 1 E Culleton; 4 M Timmons, 3 N McGee, 7 P O’Leary; 2 C Healy, 6 S Julian, 5 D Strong; 8 C Begley), 9 B Quigley; 12 N Donoher (0-2), 11 J O’Loughlin, 10 D Carroll (0-4, one free); 11 R Munnelly (0-1, free), 14 B Sheehan (0-2), 15 MJ Tierney (0-1). Subs: 24. K Lillis for Tierney (46 mins), 19 D Kingston for Sheehan (57), 26 C Boyle for Strong (64 mins), 21 P Clancy for Munnelly (71 mins).
LONGFORD: 1 D Sheridan; 2 D Brady, 3 B Gilleran, 4 D Reilly; 5 S Mulligan, 6 K Diffley, 7 N Farrell; 9 M Brady (0-1), 8 B McElvaney (0-1, free); 10 D Barden, 11 P Dowd, 12 P Barden; 13 D McElligott, 14 B Kavanagh (0-1), 15 S McCormack (0-6, three frees). Subs: 23. F McGee for Dowd (46 mins), 17 P Foy for Mulligan (54 mins), 18 D Masterson for Farrell (64 mins), 22 J O’Shea for M Brady (64 mins)
Attendance: 9,500.
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
