Key moment as Longford penalty goal disallowed in the draw against Cavan

Longford . . . 2-15 Cavan . . . 0-21 

Having said that, it took a last gasp point from Paddy Lynam in the sixth minute of stoppage time to leave the neighbouring rivals all square in the end and Longford must now win away against Monaghan in the remaining group stage fixture on Saturday next in the bid to reach the decider at Croke Park.  

Thanks to a cracking goal from David Buckley in the early stages of the second half, Longford were leading by 2-12 to 0-15 when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Buckley in the 49th minute with Cavan defender Dominic Crudden receiving a black card for the tackle. 

While the keeper Pat Burke blasted the ball to the back of the net to have seemingly put Longford in a commanding position, the goal was disallowed after the linesman informed the Mayo referee James Judge that the penalty puck was taken inside the 21 yards line.  

A strange decision, to say the least, and while Cavan were now down to 14 players for a ten minute period they recovered from this setback to outscore Longford 0-6 to 0-3 during the remainder of the match. 

Reuben Murray squandered a great goal chance not long after the penalty incident and Longford almost ended up losing this exciting encounter when the Cavan shooting star Canice Maher fired over his 12th point to put his side ahead in the fifth minute of stoppage time. 

Paddy Lynam came to the rescue when he was on target from a tight angle but Longford will be disappointed that they failed to win after making a tremendous start to lead by 1-3 to 0-0.

John Mulhern punched on the breaking ball to score the goal in the sixth minute after a shot from Ronan Sheahan was stopped by the Cavan keeper Darren Sheridan. 

LONGFORD: Pat Burke; Kealan Cox, Eamon Allen, Karl Murray; Evan Tully, Johnny Casey, Dan Crossan; Charles Flynn, Paddy Lynam (0-3, 1 free); Adam Quinn, Cathal Mullane (0-9, 6 frees), Reuben Murray (0-2); John Mulhern (1-0), Ronan Sheahan, David Buckley (1-1).

Subs:- Liam Browne for K Cox (half-time); Rory Maher for D Crossan (53 mins). 

CAVAN: Darren Sheridan; Shane Briody, Dominic Crudden, Matthew Hynes; Dillon Mulligan, Colum Sheanon, Enda Shalvey; James Smith, Cillian Sheanon; Thomas Leonard (0-1), Canice Maher (0-12, 7 frees, 3 ‘65s), Dairmaid Carney (0-1); Nicky Kenny (0-6), Sean Keating, Mark Moffett (0-1). 

Subs:- Caolan Kelly for J Smith; Rian Delaney for D Crudden (53 mins); Caoimhin Carney for D Carney (62 mins). 

Referee: James Judge (Mayo).