Clonguish 2-14 Longford Slashers 1-14
Clonguish retained their Longford SHC title with a hard-fought win over Longford Slashers in Pearse Park.
Clonguish had led comfortably at half-time by 2-10 to 1-5. However, Slashers came right back into the game after the restart, with Clonguish failing to score until the 45th minute.
With the rain pouring down, the final quarter was a dogfight.
Clonguish started the game strongly, with points from Matthew Flynn, Bart Hanley and Joe O'Brien (free) giving their side a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after six minutes.
Slashers got off the mark with a point from Michael Mulcahy. Mulcahy found the net with a goal in the seventh minute, which hit the post on the way to the net.
Clonguish captain Stephen Gregg responded with a goal in the ninth minute.
Matthew Flynn passed to Dan Crossan, who had a shot saved by Slasher’s netminder Noel Dunne.
However, the ball spilled and Gregg was well placed to finish.
Exchanges were tight between the sides. However, Clonguish took a decisive lead in the 23rd minute.
Stephen Gregg passed to Bart Hanley and the Limerick native took his chance well, making it 2-07 to 1-04 to Clonguish.
Longford Slashers hit four answered points early in the second half, with three of them coming from Reuben Murray frees.
Joe O’Brien got Clonguish’s first point of the half with a long-range effort in the 45th minute.
Slashers' David Buckley and Clonguish's Bart Hanley traded points.
At the start of five minutes stoppage time, Stephen Gregg pointed a free to make it 2-14 to 1-12 to Clonguish.
Reuben Murray fired over two frees to give Slashers a chink of light.
However, Murray was also guilty of hitting two wides as injury time expired.
Clonguish Gaels: Eanna Daly; Michael Devlin, Oisin Gately, Padraig McGuinness; Ray O’Brien, Joe O’Brien (0-04, 3f), David Gregg; Gerry Moore, Declan Lee; Dan Crossan (0-01), Stephen Gregg (1-03, 2f), Conor Carroll; Matthew Flynn (0-02), Bart Hanley (1-03), Ciaran Corcoran (0-01).
Subs: Brian Brady for Corcoran (41 mins).
Longford Slashers: Noel Dunne; Rory Maher, Karl Murray, Colin Regan; Daire Regan, Johnny Casey, Kealan Cox; Reuben Murray (0-09, 7f), Ronan Sheahan; Darragh Caslin, David Buckley (0-03, 1f), Eoin Donnellan (0-01); Michael Mulcahy (1-01), David Harney, Matthew Hawes.
Subs: Diarmuid Caslin for Coilin Regan (21 mins), Iarlaith Dolan for Darragh Caslin (25 mins), Cian Kavanagh for Hawes (37 mins), Ronan Kelly for Sheehan (injured, 53 mins).
Referee: Francis Kelly.
