FL Div 4: 'Wood' shares spoils in near blizzard conditions
February 12, 2018
Longwood's Evan Coyle
Longwood 1-06 St. Vincents 0-09
After an early morning pitch inspection at Longwood, the match between St. Vincents was given the green light to go ahead. 5 minutes after throw in however, near blizzard conditions set in and made any attempt at stylish football a challenge. To their credit however both teams were full of endeavor and prepared to battle on.
St. Vincents picked up a couple of frees towards the end of the half but it was very much the defenses that were on top throughout. Ryan Moore picked up Longwood's sole point of that 1st half from a 18th minute free.
Longwood were far more potent in the early part of the 2nd half and went 4 points to 3 up following further scores by Moore and a point from play by Aaron Ennis. Ross Kerrigan and Evan Coyle combined well to unlock a solid Vincents defence with Coyle placing a low shot to the net to open up a 5 point lead and it looked at that stage that Longwood had put the game beyond reach.
Vincents refused to capitulate however and 4 points in the space of 5 minutes got them back on par and indeed, they could have snatched the win but for a narrowly missed late free.
A draw was probably a fair result in a game that was played in good spirit despite the difficult conditions. The pitch will need a bit of TLC over the next week or two though.
Longwood scorers: Ryan Moore (0-04), Evan Coyle (1-01), Aaron Ennis (0-01)
Longwood: Darragh Maguire, Corran Byrne, David McQuaid, Johnny Furey, Jamie Connolly, Mickey Burke, Bob Maguire, Niall Mulvey, Anthony Healy, Joey Stenson, Ryan Moore, Evan Coyle, Aaron Ennis, Ross Kerrigan, Dean Keogh
Subs: Gavin Griffith for Dean Keogh, Enda Dixon for David McQuaid
St Vincents Report
Longwood 1-06 St Vincent's 0-09
This game started in blizzard like conditions and the snow continued for the entire first half. The visitors were first off the mark in the 19th minute with a free kick from Richie O'Sullivan. The home side equalised on the 22nd minute before O'Sullivan and Robbie Lynch scored again for the visitors before the break to send St Vincent's in 0-03 to 0-01 at the interval.
The sun came out at the start of the second half and it seemed to suit the home team who scored three points on the bounce to lead four points to three. Richie O'Sullivan restored parity on the 40th minute before the home side scored a goal and two points on the 42nd, 47th and 50th minute respectively to lead by five. The visitors emptied the bench bringing on the triplet Corry brothers, Eoghan, Leo and David and their first cousin Jack Byrne all in their first year at adult football. They started to press Longwood high up the field putting pressure on their kick outs and as a result reaped the rewards. Two points each from Robbie Lynch and Richie O'Sullivan left the minimum between the teams before Tommy Field sent over the equaliser in the last minute of the game.
Overall this was a very enjoyable afternoon in spite of the weather.
St Vincents: C. Tallon, J. Corry, D. Tallon, B. O'Sullivan, A. Mc Entee, D. Murphy, S. O'Brien, M. Crawley, R. Tallon, P. Arnold, R. Hand, N. Tallon, N. Hand, R. O'Sullivan (0-05), R. Lynch (0-03). Subs: T. Field (0-01) for N. Tallon, E Corry for N Hand, J Byrne for R Tallon, D Corry for B O'Sullivan, L. Corry for A McEntee, C Brangan for S O'Brien, D O'Sullivan, E Murphy, G Connor, E Connor, E Hand
