Sport

Lennon saviour

Longford SFC Final: Clonguish 0-11 Ballymahon 1-8 A fisted point by substitute John Lennon deep into stoppage time earned the…

Mon Sept 22 2003 - 01:00

Longford SFC Final: Clonguish 0-11 Ballymahon 1-8 A fisted point by substitute John Lennon deep into stoppage time earned the title-holders Ballymahon a draw with Clonguish in a disappointing Longford senior football final which attracted a 5,000 attendance to Pearse Park yesterday.

Ballymahon set the early pace with a brace of points from Roscommon star Frankie Dolan but Clonguish then took over to register 0-4 on the trot, three from Longford forward Paul Barden with his brother David also getting his name on the score sheet.

The Longford captain Trevor Smullen then notched the only goal of the game in the 20th minute when he flicked a cross from Edwin Nally into the corner of the net. But Clonguish regained the upper hand and ended up holding a narrow 0-7 to 1-3 at the break.

The second half developed into a real ding-dong struggle with two fine points from Smullen keeping Ballymahon in contention while Paul Barden was doing the business for Clonguish and looked to have earned his side their first senior title in 22 years when he robbed opposing full back Ken Lovelle on his way to firing over a glorious score in the second minute of stoppage time.

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However, never-say-die Ballymahon were not done yet and Lennon came to the rescue with the equalising point in the fifth minute of a lengthy stoppage time - added on following a prolonged injury to Clonguish centre half back Enda Williams.

A draw was probably the fairest result and the sides will meet again in the replay on Sunday, October 5th.

CLONGUISH: M McHugh; B Burke, S Prunty, G O'Malley; P Reilly, E Williams, T O'Malley; P Dowd (0-1), E Barden (0-2, frees); D Barden (0-1), P Barden (0-6, three frees) L McGuinness; J O'Brien, J Dowd, J Smith (0-1). Subs: C Clarke for Williams inj. (50 mins), D Quinn for Smith (60 mins).

BALLYMAHON: F Kelly; P Quinn, K Lovelle, G Dooley; R Forbes, K Cooney, J Malley; A Hudson, J O'Callaghan; E Nally, M Connor, M Lennon (0-1); P Nally, T Smullen (1-2), F Dolan (0-4, three frees). Subs: N Grehan for J Nally (half-time), J Lennon (0-1) for Hudson (45 mins).

Referee: T Donohoe (Rathcline).