Gaelic Games

Longford win promotion to Division Three with victory over Offaly

Ross McNerney comes off bench to inspire home side

Ross McNerney in action for Longford under-21s against Laois last year. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Ross McNerney in action for Longford under-21s against Laois last year. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Sun Mar 29 2015 - 19:22

Longford 0-13 Offaly 0-10

Under-21 star Ross McNerney came off the bench to help Longford gain promotion to Division 3 at the expense of Offaly, who finished the game with 12 men.

The Faithful County’s discipline let them down with Paul McConway receiving a straight red in the 27th minute and Graham Guilfoyle and Niall Smith both picked up second yellows in the second half.

Offaly started the game well but Longford worked hard to get back into it. Despite going a man down in that first half, Offaly held a one-point lead at the break with Bernard Allen being their main man. Minutes into the second half, however, they were reduced to 13 when Guilfoyle got a second yellow.

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Longford wasted several scoring opportunities before they took the lead in the 62nd minute when McNerney pointed a free. He followed that up with an excellent point from play.

Kavanagh and McNerney hit over frees to give Longford a four-point lead with four minutes to play.

Smith then received a second yellow in the 69th minute. Offaly face Antrim on Sunday where a draw would see them join Longford in Division 3.

LONGFORD: P Collum; D Brady, B O'Farrell, P Foy; CP Smyth, D Masterson, E Williams; B Gilleran, K Diffley; M Quinn, P McKeon (0-4, 0-2 frees), R McEntire; B Kavanagh (0-3, frees), S McCormack (0-1) , F McGee (0-1). Subs: F Battrim (0-1) for O'Farrell (10), S Doyle for McEntire (BC 43), L Connerton for McCormack (53), R McNerney (0-3, 0-2 frees) for McKeon (61), P Gill for McGee (71) OFFALY: A Mulhall; B Darby, P McConway, J O'Connor; D Brady, J Maloney (0-1), N Darby; G Guilfoyle, N Smith; E Carroll (0-1), N McNamee (0-3, 0-1 free), A O'Sullivan; B Allen (0-5, 0-2 frees), N Dunne, W Mulhall . Subs: Ledwith for Dunne (32), N Bracken for Carroll (61), J J Evans for Allen (both 61), P Cunningham for O'Sullivan, N Geraghty for Mulhall (both 70), D Hogan for Brady (71), Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)