Longford Rugby Club take Dundalk down to register first league win

Longford RFC . . . 18    Dundalk RFC . . . 14

The match marked Longford reaching the halfway point in what has proved a frustrating league campaign to date and one that simply had to be won in order for a fight back to be possible in terms of our league position going into Round 7 of fixtures.

In what was an ideal day for Rugby, the squad arrived focused and single minded as they prepared for the task at hand. Several changes in team selection were required due to injuries throughout the squad and so a new looking mix took to the pitch to take on the task of securing our first league win of the season. 

Notable changes saw Mark McHugh move to hooker, Danny McHugh move to inside centre and Joe McGowan switching to full back. Tom Gilheany was also rewarded with fine recent displays with a start at openside flanker. 

The match started at the expected frantic opening pace. Both sides laid down their respective markers in terms of physicality with big hits being traded throughout the opening exchanges.

 Longford however were very much equal to the Dundalk pace and indeed began to impose their own shape on proceedings. Several phases of smart attacking rugby with clever interchanging between forwards and backs kept Dundalk guessing. It was game on.

Longford were then dealt an early blow when captain Danny McHugh stayed down after making a heavy tackle on a member of the dynamic Dundalk back row. A shoulder injury ended his participation and resulted in a shifting of the cards in the backs with Cormac Casey coming on to the wing and Daithí Connolly moving to inside centre. 

Just as the game restarted, Dundalk moved the play deep into the Longford half and were awarded what would prove to be the first of several penalties in the match. They slotted home the resulting kick to open the scoring at 3-0. The home side were not in the mood to accept any potential change in momentum and immediately set about working their way towards the Dundalk line. 

Determined phase play brought Longford right back up to the Dundalk try line where after several phases, Benny McManus took control of matters from a lineout maul to crash over and bag a crucial opening try to swing the scoreboard 5-3 in Longford’s favour. Ryan McHugh narrowly missed a very tough side-line conversion kick. However only minutes later he atoned with a sweet penalty attempt that deservedly extended the home lead to 8-3.

Dundalk came roaring back at the Longford defence and began to kick smartly with the wind at their backs. One such effort resulted in a huge territorial gain that pinned Longford tightly into the Club corner of the new 4G pitch and resulted in several scrums being awarded in their favour. 

Longford gave everything for the next 8 minutes to defend their line against a barrage of Dundalk runners. 

Eventually a gap opened with the Dundalk player seemingly over the line and the ball only a foot away from being touched down when from nowhere arrived Kieran O’Gorman with a simply astounding hit that foiled the try and turned over possession in Longford’s favour. 

Longford cleared their lines, but the Dundalk assault was not going away and they landed 2 further penalties before half time to leave the scoreboard 9-8 in their favour at the break.

The second half started as the first left off with both sides competing ferociously. The back row of Alistair McCormack, Kieran O’Gorman and the superb Tom Gilheany were everywhere and making both dominant carries and tackles that kept Longford on the front foot at every breakdown.

 After some superb interplay between backs and forwards the ball was swung out to Joe McGowan on an overlap to bag the home side's 2nd try of the day and swing the scoreboard back to 13-9 in favour of Longford.

It was at this juncture that Longford had a superb opportunity to really push on and perhaps even dream of a bonus point victory. However, like earlier matches in the campaign indiscipline reappeared for this team and 2 quick yellow cards, both borderline, made the majority of the 2nd half all about hanging in. Dundalk however could smell blood and bagged a try while they had the 2-man advantage to bring the score to 13-14 in their favour. 

Longford showed huge character to keep the dam from breaking after this and despite the odds began to make gains back into the Dundalk half. Time was however against the home team and it began to feel like another one of those days where the result simply refused to come.

That was however until George McDermot took matters into his own hands in the final minutes to finish off a brilliant phase of attacking rugby and crash over for the most deserved of tries to swing the scoreboard deservedly to 18-14 in Longford’s favour. Longford finished out the final frenetic 3 minutes to the sound of the referees’ whistle. 

The win that has eluded this team so far this season was theirs and with it the newfound belief that this could be the start of a remarkable fight back in the league for the remainder of the season.

There were standout performances from the majority of the team, but special mention should be given to Mark McHugh, Liam Brady, Benny McManus, Kieran O’Gorman and Player of the Match Tom Gilheany up front. 

The pick of the backs were Ryan McHugh, George McDermott, DaithÍ Connolly and the McGowan brothers. Special mention also to Rioch Farrell and Cormac Casey who both made very important contributions to a very, very important win.

LONGFORD:  1 P O'Farrell. 2 M McHugh. 3 L Brady. 4 J Geelan. 5 B McManus. 6 A McCormack. 7 T Gilheany. 8 K O'Gorman. 9 F McGowan. 10 R McHugh. 11 R Farrell. 12 D McHugh. 13 G McDermott. 14 D Connolly. 15 J McGowan. 16 B Hanley. 17 J Murray. 18 D Geelan. 19 C Casey. 20 S Evans.