Leinster U21FC: Wexford win first title at Longford's expense
April 06, 2011
Wexford's Kevin O'Grady and Aaron Quinn of Longford go head to head in the Cadbury Leinster U21FC final at Portlaoise ©INPHO/James Crombie
Wexford 1-9
Longford 0-11
Killian Kehoe's early goal proved decisive as Wexford landed a first ever Cadbury Leinster U21FC title in Wednesday night's nail-biting final at Portlaoise.
Both sides came into this game after impressive semi-final wins - Longford against title favourites Westmeath and Wexford over Carlow - and after a slow start it was Wexford who made the decisive move.
Emmet Kent came close to an early goal but the let-off was short lived for Longford as Kehoe pounced to put his side 1-1 to 0-1 ahead.
From there to half-time there was little between the sides as Wexford maintained their three-point advantage at the break, with Wexford leading 1-5 to 0-5.
The sides swapped points on the restart before Wexford moved four points clear. It was at this point that Longford played their best football of the night as they dominated the final quarter and four successive points, including two from last year's Leinster minor winning forward Robbie Smith, levelled the game, 1-7 to 0-10.
Wexford crucially landed two injury-time points, including a sensational effort from hugely influential midfielder Michael O'Regan.
A late Kevin Diffley point helped Longford cut the deficit to one but time ran out for the midlanders, for whom this was a sixth losing Leinster U21 football final in their history.
On the other side of the divide, the final whistle brought an historic first provincial U21 football win for Wexford, prompting huge celebrations from the Model County supporters who can now look forward to a meeting with either Tyrone or Cavan in an All-Ireland semi-final later in the month.
Wexford: R Farrell; J Breen, S Gaule, M Furlong; D Butler, J Leacy, C Carty (0-1); M O'Hanlon, M O'Regan (0-2, one free); L Og McGovern, E Kent (0-1), P Kelly (0-3); K O'Grady (0-2, one free), K Kehoe (1-0), B Halpin. Subs: D Murphy for Halpin (41), T Rossiter for Kehoe (55).
Longford: P Collum; J Carroll, F Battrim, A Quinn; S Mahon, CP Smyth; D Cooney; K Diffley (0-1), J Keegan (0-1); P McCormack, J McGivney (0-2, frees), M Mulvey; R Smith (0-4, one free), D Gallagher, JJ Matthews (0-3). Subs: J Noonan for Gallagher (21), F Reilly for Mahon (53).
Referee: G McCormack (Dublin)
For more information on the Cadbury GAA Championship go to our Facebook
www.facebook.com/U21GAAFootball or follow us on Twitter twitter.com/CadburyU21.
Most Read Stories