Barry McNulty and Gavin Reynolds led the way as Leitrim inflicted a heavy defeat on neighbours and pre-match favourites Longford in this Allianz Football League Division 4 clash in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Leitrim bounced back from decisive defeats in their two previous league outings by Antrim and Tipperary when putting on their best performance in this year's league campaign. In this clash apart from the early minutes Longford never really got out of the starting blocks with their stuttering performance over the 70 minutes.
Longford opened brightly with Peter Lynn and Oran Kenny splitting the Leitrim posts in the opening five minutes. But Leitrim got on level terms when Barry McNulty hit a sixth minute two pointer from a placed ball.
Leitrim edged ahead three minutes later with a Riordan O'Rourke two pointer. Mathew Carey answered with a ninth minute Longford point. A well finished Gavin Reynolds goal from a high dropping ball into the 'square' four minutes later put Leitrim ahead by five points.
Longford hit back with a Mathew Carey goal and a Joseph Hagan point to reduce Leitrim's lead to the minimum on the 15-minute mark. After that Leitrim upped their game and forced Longford to play second fiddle for the remainder of the showdown.
Before the break Leitrim extended the advantage with two pointers from Barry McNulty and Keith Keegan while Ryan O'Rourke, Killian Gaffey '45' and Riordan O'Rourke added points each.
Oran Kenny, Mathew Carey and Dessie Reynolds hit back with Longford points to send Leitrim in leading at the break by 1-12 to 1-07 at the break.
Leitrim grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck from the restart and continued to dictate matters with Conor Quinn, Fergal McLoughlin, Paul Honeyman and Ryan O'Rourke all splitting the Longford uprights by the 41st minute.
These scores gave Leitrim a solid platform to build on for the rest of the half. After that Joseph Hagan answered with a Longford point when he opened his side's second half account. A 47th minute Barry McNulty goal killed off Longford's challenge in this local derby clash.
After that Ryan O'Rourke and Jack Kelly fired over a point each for Leitrim, which put the home side ahead by a whopping thirteen points. Longford answered with late points from Dessie Reynolds, Peter Lynn, Mathew Carey (free) and Paddy Moran.
But it wasn't enough and Leitrim, sitting second from bottom, move to within two points of top spot going into the final day of the Division 4 season.
Leitrim: Killian Gaffey (0-02 '45s'); Keith Keegan (0-02 2p), Conor Reynolds, Seán Harkin; Eoin McLoughlin, Mark Diffley, Éanna McNamara; Conor Quinn (0-01), Barry McNulty (1-04 4pf); Fergal McLoughlin (0-01), Paul Honeyman (0-01), Riordan O'Rourke (0-03 2p); Jack Kelly (0-01), Ryan O'Rourke (0-04), Gavin Reynolds (2-00).
Subs: Oisin McLoughlin for Honeyman (53); Cillian McGloin for Keegan (64); Peter Prior, Tom Plunkett & Kieran Clancy for McNulty, F McLoughlin & E McNamara (73).
Longford: Eoin McGuinness; Paddy Fox, Ryan Moffett, Byran Masterson; Peter Lynn (0-02), Oisin O'Toole, Dessie Reynolds (0-03 2p); Liam Glennon, Ronan Sweeney; James Moran, Matthew Carey (1-04 2pf), Dylan Farrell; Mathew Flynn, Joseph Hagan (0-02), Oran Kenny (0-03).
Subs: Paddy Moran (0-01) for Hagan (43); Aidan McGuire & Cian Brady for Flynn & Farrell (64); Ronan Bleakley for Moffett (68)
Referee: Eoin Morrissey (Waterford).
