Longford hurlers miss out on a place in the Lory Meagher Cup final

Monaghan . . . 2-16   Longford . . . 0-17

While Longford had their moments, the Division 3A side were the better team for the majority of the contest and deserved the win to clinch their place in the Croke Park title decider against Lancashire.

The concession of a couple of goals in the first half proved costly for Longford who trailed by eight points at one stage but came storming back to close the gap with Monaghan leading by 2-8 to 0-10 at the break.

Longford continued to whittle away at the Monaghan advantage in the second half to trail by just a point on 52 minutes as the chief marksmen Paddy Lynam and Cathal Mullane combined to fire over five points between them while Niall Arthur responded with two frees for the Farney side, and at that stage with Monaghan leading by 2-10 to 0-15, the game was in the balance.

A couple of poor Longford wides handed the momentum back to Monaghan who finished strongly to score six of the last eight scores to emerge victorious. 

MONAGHAN: H Byrne, J Guinan, P Finnegan, C McHugh, C Flynn, K Crawley, D Hughes, C Merrick, N Garland (0-1), N Arthur (0-9, 7f), S Lambe, A Kenny, T Hughes (1-0), C Gernon (0-2), E Flynn (1-4). 

Subs:- C McNally for Hughes (half-time), F Rafter for Lambe (44 mins), P Malone for Gernon (65 mins).

LONGFORD: P Burke, J Casey, E Allen, K Murray, A Quinn, C Flynn, E Tully, J Mulhern (0-1), P Lynam (0-5, 4f), C Mullane (0-6, 4f), R Sheahan (0-1), R Murray (0-1), L Browne, M Savage, D Buckley (0-3).

Sub:- M Hawes for Savage (half-time).