Published: Wednesday, 28th October, 2009 4:45pm
'Wood end long wait for junior honours
by Jimmy GeogheganLongwood 1-10, Dunsany 0-7
After waiting 70 years Longwood finally won the JFC when they defeated Dunsany at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday and seldom have any winners of the competition had to dig so deep for their final victory.
Regarded by many observers as red-hot favourites, and 1/3 with some bookmakers to win, Longwood looked burdened by the weight of expectation for long spells.
They laboured throughout the opening half to find the kind of form that carried them this far and only in the last quarter did they finally shake off the challenge of a doughty Dunsany outfit.
Time was rapidly ticking by when Longwood began to find an extra gear that powered them to a victory that was greeted with unrestrained joy by players, supporters and management.
The game swung decisively in their favour within a two-minute spell late in the game. There were 55 minutes on the clock when Rory Maguire finished off a well-worked move to point.
A minute later a move involving Michael Burke and Jim Mahon ended with Maguire crossing the ball from the right into Wayne Leonard who won possession, held off a defender before he skilfully, left-footed the ball to the corner of the net. That put Longwood 1-8 to 0-7 to the good and took the sting out of Dunsany's determined challenge.
The favourites tag, and how it affected Longwood, was touched upon by their man-of-the-match Maguire minutes after the final whistle.
"I suppose this was the biggest game in all our careers so far so everyone was nervous going into the game. We're just delighted to be the right side of the result," he said.
Maguire didn't look like a player who had just ran the equivalent of a marathon over the course of the previous hour. He looked calm and unflustered but the manner in which he covered just about every blade of grass on the pristine Pairc Tailteann surface said a lot about his, and his team's level of fitness.
Maguire was immense covering back to help out his defence one minute, picking up breaking ball around midfield the next or joining in attack. Burke was another who ran and ran. He was closely marked and rarely got a chance to inflict the kind of damage he did against Drumbaragh in the semi-final.
Maguire was given the freedom to roam Pairc Tailteann and he revelled in that role, topping his memorable display with six points, five of them from play.
Longwood had the strong wind behind them in the opening half. It appeared to undermine their display rather than give them an advantage.
They were caught between the options of lofting the ball high into the forwards or sticking to their quick-passing game that has served them so well this year under manager Mark McDonagh.
They registered five wides inside the opening 12 minutes as they sought in vain to find any fluency. At the break the sides were level at 0-4 apiece and it looked like Dunsany had gained an important psychological advantage.
Three points from Maguire and one from Burke had made Longwood's opening half account. Longwood continued to struggle to find any fluency in the opening minutes of the second-half. Gradually, inexorably Longwood started to get their game going. Facing into a stiff breeze they utilised their passing game to maximum effect. It was noticeable that John Cullinane and Burke started to win more ball around midfield and that their forwards began to find an extra yard or two with Aaron Ennis and Maguire causing plenty of problems.
Then they struck with Leonard's opportunistic goal and a Maguire point in quick succession to put his side in front. They finished off the game with a late point from Maguire and a pointed free from Burke.
Dunsany looked for so long as if they might just cause a major upset. They started well against the wind with early scores from Charlie Keena and a booming effort from Mark Brennan giving their supporters a real sense that this could be their day. The Dunsany defence tackled like tigers, fought for every ball and never allowed the Longwood forwards any latitude - until the closing stages when legs started to get weary and exhausted minds began to wander.
Emmet Ferguson mopped up a lot of ball, Ciaran Lawlor poured forward at every opportunity while Stephen Clynch and Paul O'Donnell once again impressed in midfield. Clynch shipped a knock early on yet recovered to play his part in ensuring that the much vaunted partnership of Burke and Cullinane were never allowed to dominate.
One crunching shoulder to shoulder tackle on Burke ended with the Longwood player sliding out over the sideline under the stand. It produced a huge cheer from the Dunsany support and was a statement of intent.
Dunsany did go close to finding the net on two occasions. Lawlor powered forward a free from long range and the ball bounced against the bar before it was cleared.
Midway through the second-half Burke was dispossessed moving out of the Longwood defence, Ger O'Neill won possession and dinked the ball into Keena who was left one-on-one with netminder Jarlath Cully. Keena got a touch but so did Cully who knocked the ball away for a '45'.
Conor Brennan caused plenty of problems for Dunsany with his height and he set up Mark Brennan for an excellent second-half point with Barry O'Donnell and O'Neill also splitting the posts.
Dunsany were doing so well until Leonard's goal. After that they appeared resigned to their fate as Longwood powered on to end their long drought without a title.
SCORERS
Longwood - R Maguire 0-6, one free; M Burke 0-3, two frees; W Leonard 1-0; A Ennis 0-1.
Dunsany - M Brennan 0-2, frees; C Lawlor 0-2; C Keena 0-1, G O'Neill 0-1, B O'Donnell 0-1.
TEAMS
Longwood - Jarlath Cully; Ciaran Greene, Enda Dixon, James Colgan; Brendan Hanna, Vincent Byrne, Jim Mahon; John Cullinane, Michael Burke; Gerard Ennis, Michael Weir, Karl Ennis; Aaron Ennis, Wayne Leonard, Rory Maguire. Subs - Eoin Lynch for K Ennis 35mins, Chris Lynch for G Ennis 40m, Padraic Bannon for Weir 61m, Daragh Maguire for Mahon 61m.
Dunsany - Niall Flynn; Paddy McGovern, Paul Kennedy, Richard Donnelly; Ciaran Lawlor, Emmet Ferguson, Donie Lynch; Paul O'Donnell, Stephen Clynch; Charlie Keena, Mark Brennan, Diarmuid O'Donoghue; Eoin Marsh, Conor Brennan, Ger O'Neill. Subs - Brendan O'Donnell for O'Donoghue 17mins, Alan Hogan for Keena 56m, Alan Duffy for C Brennan 59m.
REFEREE
John Martin (Rathkenny).
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