SHC Quarter-final: Longwood 1-11 Kildalkey 4-19

And so it ends. Longwood’s 2019 senior hurling odyssey came to a disappointing end against Kildalkey, in what turned out to be a most unexpectedly one-sided contest in Páirc Tailteann on Saturday evening.

The team and supporters had approached the game with a mixture of hope and confidence knowing that, while Kildalkey would be certain to pose a strong challenge, a place in a senior county final was very much within reach.

Alas, it was not to be. From the outset, the boys in blue seemed quicker to the ball and much more assured with their first touch. They opened the scoring with a long range free after just thirty seconds and despite an excellent equalising score from Karl Ennis, they would quickly assert their superiority on the scoreboard. The next 10 minutes saw them rack up 2-3 without reply, enabling them to take a vice-like grip on the game that they would never relinquish.

The remainder of the opening half saw Longwood do everything in their power to scratch and claw their way back into the game but, try as they might, they could not gain a foothold in the contest.

Every breaking ball seemed to fall to a blue jersey. Whether that was just down to luck or a greater level of desire to scoop up the breaks is open to debate. The cliché “they wanted it more” would be far too simplistic to roll out as an excuse; there is no doubt the men from Longwood craved victory every bit as much as their opponents.

A series of Anthony Healy frees and a couple of points from play from his sibling Damien, the target of persistent fouling, saw Longwood move on to 0-7 by halftime. Unfortunately, by that stage Kildalkey had registered 2-11.

A ten-point deficit against such an experienced rival was always going to be extremely difficult to overcome. Longwood would need to record some early second-half scores, preferably a goal or two to keep their flickering hopes alive. Within two minutes all hope was finally extinguished thanks to a third Kildalkey goal. This effectively ended the contest albeit with the best part of half an hour remaining.

The game petered out to it’s now inevitable conclusion. Credit to Longwood, they did manage to raise a green flag thanks to an excellent finish from Ross Healy. As always, the boys never took a backward step and continued to fight for every ball regardless of the scoreline.

A glance to the scoreboard at the end of the game showed a 17-point gap between the teams. While the scoreboard doesn’t lie, and we acknowledge that Kildalkey fully deserved their victory on the day, we all know that this isn’t a fair reflection on the ability of both teams. The previous meeting in the group stages is evidence enough of that.

Whilst not offering it up as an excuse, it must be remembered that this was the sixth consecutive weekend that our wounded warriors were involved in senior championship action. Kildalkey by comparison were much fresher and this may have had some bearing on the game

But it’s all about what happens on the day. And on the day that mattered, Kildalkey were by far the better team. Not even the most ardent Longwood supporter could argue with that. In the end all we can do is wish Kildalkey well in the final.

Longwood will be understandably disappointed. But we should not lose sight of the fact that they performed very strongly throughout the championship. They played seven championship games and the last of these games was the only time they under-performed. They proved that they are undoubtedly one of the top hurling teams in the county and with a bit of luck they can go one step, hopefully two, further next year.

Longwood: Kevin Maguire, Chris Lynch, Enda Dixon, Ross Kerrigan, Joey Stenson, Mickey Burke, Eoin Lynch (0-1), Niall Mulvey, Ryan Moore, Anthony Healy (0-5) Damien Healy (0-2), Coran Byrne, Jim Dorran (0-1), Sean Coloe, Karl Ennis (0-1). Subs Johnny Furey for Coran Byrne, Ross Healy (1-1) for Jim Dorran, Jacob Baldwin for Chris Lynch, Brendan Hanna for Eoin Lynch.

So what now for Longwood?

Well we still have a big game to play in the senior football championship. Senchalstown will provide the opposition in the relegation play-off. Victory would secure our place in the SFC for a second consecutive year which would be an amazing feat for our wonderful club.

Fingers crossed that the powers that be will allow the boys a couple of weeks to recover before making one last big push.

Maigh Dearmhaí abú!