Longford SFC: Clonguish pip Dromard to reach the county final for the first time since 2011

Clonguish . . . 1-12   Dromard . . . 1-11

Looking in serious trouble after evergreen Dromard substitute Jamsie Martin fired home a cracking goal in the 48th minute, Clonguish showed a lot of character in battling back from three points down in the closing stages of normal time to snatch a draw. 

Matthew Carey landed the equaliser (1-8 to 1-8) with virtually the last kick of the game in the third minute of stoppage time and the ding-dong battle continued in the tense additional period with Dromard trailing by two points (1-12 to 1-10) approaching the final whistle.

There was still time for Sean Hagan’s side to salvage the situation and after Peter Reynolds blasted the ball over the bar when a goal was there for the taking, there was one last chance to send this terrific tussle into a dramatic penalty shoot-out. 

Up stepped Francis McGee to take a free from a tight angle but his kick drifted agonisingly wide as Clonguish held out to earn a crack at neighbouring rivals Killoe in the 2023 Connolly Cup decider on Sunday October 15th.

The gallant losers were left to rue the squandering of several scoring chances, shooting a total of 16 wides as compared to just 5 for Clonguish with the accurate Carey shooting the impressive total of 1-7 for the Newtownforbes outfit. 

A big blow for Dromard was the knee injury sustained by Matt Duffy who was forced to retire at half-time but Clonguish are a fast emerging team with a lot of talented young players and reaching the county final is a great achievement under the guidance of their shrewd manager Liam Belton who deserves a lot of credit. 

CLONGUISH: Joe O’Brien; Conor Smith, Gerry Moore, Conor Flynn; Josh Sorohan, Andrew Flynn, Darran Quinn; Ronan Sweeney, Conor Shields; Matthew Flynn, Jack Duggan, Chris Gordon; Matthew Carey (1-7, 6 frees, goal from penalty), David Barden (0-1), Michael Flynn (0-3, 1 free).

Subs:- Niall O’Reilly (0-1) for G Moore (32 mins); Cian Sutton for J Sorohan (48 mins); Kevin Burke for N O’Reilly (54 mins); Peter Hanley for Matthew Flynn (57 mins).

Extra-time:- Matthew Flynn for C Shields (8 mins); J Sorohan for C Flynn (20 mins). 

DROMARD: Sean McNerney; Fionn Hourican, Oisin O’Toole, Paul McGee; Diarmuid Masterson, Dylan McCormack, Peter Reynolds (0-1); Ronan McEntire (0-2, 2 frees), Bernard Sheridan; Joe Hagan (0-3, 3 frees), Ronan Bleakley (0-1), Conor McGauran; Aaron Farrell (0-1), Matt Duffy (0-1), Francis McGee (0-1, free).

Subs:- Jamsie Martin (1-1) for M Duffy (injured, half-time); Daniel Conboy for C McGauran (44 mins).

Extra-time:- Peadar Kiernan for D Conboy (injured, half-time); Rory O’Toole for D McCormack (15 mins); John Sheridan for R Bleakley (16 mins).  

Referee: David Tiernan (Ardagh Moydow).