SHC Group A - Round 3: Longwood 3-15 Kildalkey 1-21

Championship hurling, sure you can’t beat it!

Longwood and Kildalkey shared the spoils after a keenly contested game in resplendent Rathmolyon on Thursday evening. Coming into the game both teams had one victory and one defeat and the subsequent draw completed the set. In the immediate aftermath, neither side will be satisfied with the outcome but when they reflect on the result in the cold light of day, they may well view it as a point gained rather than a point lost.

Longwood were a little slow out of the blocks, by the time Anthony Healy opened their account after six minutes, Kildalkey already had three points on the board. A point from play from Damien Healy reduced the margin to the minimum but Kildalkey kicked on and stretched their lead out to five points after twelve minutes.

In a portent of things to come, the Healy brothers dug deep and kept the scoreboard ticking; three points on the trot keeping their opponent within touching distance. Moments later a beautiful, free flowing move which included an exquisite exchange of passes between Sean Coloe and Ryan Moore almost produced the score of the game. Unfortunately, the final shot was unsuccessful but the play that preceded it showed the potential of the boys in white.

Then as we approached the twenty-minute mark, Longwood grabbed the lead. While there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger when Longwood were awarded a side-line ball on the Kildalkey 13 metre line, a pinpoint cut from Damien Healy picked out Eoin Lynch on the edge of the square. In the blink of an eye, Lynch had plucked the ball from the air and dispatched it to the back of the net to give Longwood the lead for the first time.

In fairness to Kildalkey, they responded very well and scored five of the next six points to take a lead to the dressing rooms at the break.

Half-time: Longwood 1-8 Kildalkey 0-13

When the game resumed, as with the first half, Kildalkey were quicker to settle and registered the opening two points. The following 20 minutes saw the teams exchange scores with Kildalkey maintaining their advantage of four points.

The Longwood defence, marshalled by experienced warriors Enda Dixon and Joey Stenson and ably supported by young lieutenants Ross Kerrigan and Niall Mulvey tightened up noticeably in second half. Chris Lynch was given the unenviable task of shackling Kildalkey’s rising star Nicky Potterton and, despite conceding an early point, performed very well.

The Longwood supporters may have been fearing the worst, but the players remained calm. A long ball deep into the Kildalkey half saw Damien Healy claim possession before transferring the ball to brother Anthony with a deft flick of the hurl. Anto steadied himself before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the Kildalkey net. A free from Healy was followed by a fantastic point from Ryan Moore and remarkably Longwood had taken the lead with 27 minutes played.

Within a minute the game had turned on its head once again when Kildalkey broke through the Longwood defence to raise a green flag and take a two point lead. Another Kildalkey point from open play pushed the lead out to three points with two minutes of injury time played.

With all eyes on the clock, one final long ball saw Longwood win a free about 25 metres out from goal. With so little time remaining, a point was not an option. Damien Healy stepped up and drilled a low shot to the bottom corner of the net. The supporters cheered in a mixture of joy and relief.

Shortly afterwards the referee brought proceedings to halt. After such an intense struggle, it would be hard to argue that a draw wasn’t a fair result. Longwood, having snatched a dramatic equaliser, will probably be on better terms with themselves in the aftermath but both teams can take much from the game while acknowledging they still have an amount of work to do to reach the knockout stages of Championship 2019.

For now, three games in, we can look forward with a degree of optimism.

Longwood: Mick Healy, Chris Lynch, Enda Dixon, Ross Kerrigan, Joey Stenson, Niall Mulvey, Mickey Burke, Karl Ennis, Damien Healy (1-3), Corran Byrne, Ryan Moore (0-2), Anthony Healy (1-10), Sean Coloe, Eoin Lynch (1-0), Ross Healy. Subs: Thomas Coloe for Ross Healy, Jim Dorran for Corran Byrne.