Hurlers take on Longford
March 10, 2010Monaghan v Longford: Inniskeen: Sunday March 13th: @ 2.30pm.
It's a winner takes all situation when Monaghan and Longford clash in division 4 of the National Hurling League in Inniskeen this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. as the winners will move into pole position at the top of the table. This promises to be Monaghan's most testing encounter so far, coming up as they are against a team that has been campaigning in division 3 for the last number of years and with that experience they pose probably the biggest threat to Monaghan's division 4 aspirations. Longford come to Inniskeen on Sunday having won both of their matches so far. They defeated Cavan by 1-11 to 1-9 back on February 28th and they followed that up with victory over South Down last Sunday by 2-14 to 1-14. South Down were under strength due to a bereavement in the McCarten family in the Leitrim Fontenoys club thereby denying them three of their regulars but even allowing for that Longford were the better team on the day with the accuracy of Declan Tanner in particular and Eoin Donnellan crucial to the outcome. In their two games so far Longford has scored a total of 3-25 while conceding a total of 2-23. In contrast Monaghan have scored a total of 4-29 and conceded a total of 3-18 so even in those statistics there is an area for improvement on Monaghan's displays. Longford will come to Inniskeen with a strong experienced spine to the team with Declan Tanner and Eoin Donnellan having the likes of Gareth Ghee, Brian and Tommy Stakum as well as John Newman is support and all of those players were involved when Monaghan and Longford last met in the division 3A Quarter Final back in 2006. With that level of experience Longford will certainly be no pushover and the wide-open spaces of Pairc Grattan, Inniskeen, will give them plenty of scope to display their prowess. Monaghan team manager Frank Brady is however looking forward to the challenge of Longford in that he believes it is a game where Monaghan can measure the progress they have made in the last couple of years. "They gave us something of a hurling lesson back in 2006 in that division 3A quarter-final and they have been in the higher division since so this game is an opportunity for us to measure what progress we have made and the progress we are making. Longford were relegated from division 3 last year but they have regrouped and they are going very well so far, but the experience that most of their players gained by playing in the higher division will see them coming into this match as favourites". Asked where he would be looking for improvement on Monaghan's two games so far Frank Brady was quite definite that he would be looking for better finishing from his forwards in particular. "We just simply hit too many wide which will always leave the door open for the opposition and the other thing that we have to improve on is that we tend to be slow starters. That happened us again on Sunday last against Fermanagh when we conceded a goal and a point before we scored but once we got going things started to happen although our finishing was a bit sloppy at times". Frank Brady had to reckon without the services of Eanna MacSuibhne and Aidan Og McAneespie on Sunday last but he is hopeful that both will be available this time around. Against that however he will be without Seamus Loftus who is unavoidably absent due to family commitments. "We will need all of our players playing to their best potential it we are to beat Longford. Seamus Loftus will be a big miss because he is playing very well and he had a good game last Sunday but we will have to compensate for that. We did use five substitutes last Sunday which gives valuable game time to all the players on the panel and
there are still two or three places to be filled on the panel so that is a work in progress, its ongoing and we will be judging our selection on how the boys are going in training as much as how they have played in matches so far". While acknowledging that Longford are the more experienced Frank Brady still feels that it is a game that will give Monaghan a chance to show how they are progressing. "Our preparations are going well and the boys are going well in training so I am hopeful that we can keep our 100% record and move into pole position with games to come against Cavan and Leitrim. Both those games are away so it is essential that we do well in our home matches".
PREVIOUS LEAGUE MEETINGS.
This will be the 9th meeting between Monaghan and Longford since Centenary Year 1984 and of the previous eight meetings Longford have won 5 and Monaghan have won 2 and one match has been drawn. The sides last met in 2006 in the quarter final of the then Div. 3A, a game that resulted in the biggest win for Longford so far.
1984 Monaghan 0-8 Longford 2-14 (Semi Final; Cavan)
1988 Monaghan 2-13 Longford 2-18 (5/6/'88; Longford)
1992 Monaghan 2-11, Longford 2-3 (16/2/'92; Longford)
1996 Monaghan 2-9, Longford 1-9 (3/3/'96; Longford)
2000 Monaghan 2-5, Longford 3-5 (Monaghan)
2001` Monaghan 0-11, Longford 1-13
2004 Monaghan 2-12, Longford 4-6 (2nd Series 11/4/2004)
2006 Longford 5-19, Monaghan 1-3. (Div 3A Qtr. Final; Ballyconnell 9/4/06)
WHEN THEY LAST MET.
ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIV 3A Quarter Final.
Longford 5-19, Monaghan 1-3.
Longford cruised into the semi finals of the Allianz hurling league division 3 with this facile victory over a lacklustre Monaghan in a game that was too one sided to be interesting at any stage in Ballyconnell on Sunday April 9th 2006. This was a game where very little if anything went right for Monaghan as they lacked the hunger and drive of a Longford team that assumed control almost from the very start. Monaghan were forced to field short a number of regular with Pat Walsh missing through injury and David Connolly also unavailable but those absences do not explain even in part this very poor performance. Longford effectively had this game wrapped up by the halfway stage when they led by fifteen points as they raided and scored almost at will and their defence was never tested. Monaghan's first point of the match came in the 29th minute by which stage Longford had two goals and eight points on the board. Ghee eventually finished top scorer with 2-7. Longford led at half time by 2-11 to 0-2 and the one-way traffic continued in the second-half as Longford fired in three further goals to turn the whole affair into something of a procession and such was their dominance that they could well have won by a much greater margin and they even opted to take a point from a penalty. Teams and Scorers: Longford: Paddy Cullen, Bob Corcoran, Thomas Stakem, Brian Stakem, Robbie Staklum 0-2, Martin Coyle, Seamus Hannon, Brendan Burke 0-1, Sean Browne 0-1, Gareth Ghee 2-7, John Newman 0-3, Anthony Corcoran, Mark Cassidy 1-0, Niall Casey 1-4, Ciaran Gobl 1-0. Subs: John Minnock for N Casey, Brian Mahon for D Corcoran, Stephen Corcoran 0-1 for S Browne.
Monaghan Niall Lennon, Conor McGinnity, Padraig Dowdall, Fergus Payne, Paul Murphy, Jim McHugh 0-1, Seamus McLoughlin, Seamus Loftus, Declan Crowe, Barry Reilly, Robbie Healy 0-1, Brian McGuigan, John Greene, Michael McHugh 1-1, Stephen Lambe. Subs: Jack Lee for F Payne, Alan Lambe for J Greene, PJ Boyle for S McLoughlin.. Referee: Tiarnach Mahon (Fermanagh). Tweet
