Longford recovered trailing 14-0 in the first 20 minutes to edge out Boyne in their provincial towns plate quarter-final. Boyne won Leinster 1B this season, are familiar opponents for Longford, having edged out Longford twice in the league.
Boyne immediately came at Longford, the match quite even in the first 15 minutes. However, Boyne capitalised on two Longford mistakes to go in for two converted tries in quick succession.
On both occasions, Longford knocked the ball on while in possession and Boyne quickly transitioned to attack, scoring two relatively soft tries.
It would have been very easy for Longford to pack up their tents at this stage and let Boyne run riot but Longford had other ideas against an opposition whose confidence border lined on arrogance at times.
Longford looked very dangerous especially when they got the ball out the back line and it was winger Joe McGowan who went in for Longford’s first try after 22 minutes when the ball was worked through the hands on the left, with Ryan McHugh knocking over the conversion.
Longford were largely on top at this stage but could not find a way over the Boyne try line even with Boyne down to 14 men for 10 minutes courtesy of a tip tackle by the Boyne 14.
However, they did manage to cut the deficit to only one point at the half time break with two penalties from Ryan McHugh 13-14.
The second-half was a thrilling helter skelter affair where scores were traded right up to full-time.
First up was a try by scrum half Finbarr McGowan after a brilliant turnover and offload behind his back by loosehead Podge O’Farrell to McGowan who then showed great gas to burn the cover for an unconverted try.
Longford extended their lead with another McHugh penalty.
Just when Longford had their tales Boyne struck back with an unconverted try leaving the score at 21-19. Then Mark McHugh scored for the hosts after great team pressure to leave the score at 26-19.
The breathless end to the match played out with Boyne then replying with a converted try to bring the match back to a 26-16 draw with 10 minutes to go. Longford then struck again, with the touch down by flanker Packie Molloy, who scored courtesy of a great follow-up following a block down by No. 8 Aaron Beirne.
Crucially Ryan McHugh nailed the conversion. However, that was not the end as Boyne came back up the pitch and crashed over for a try with five minutes to play.
It looked to the crowd that we were heading for extra time, however Boyne missed the conversion to leave Longford with a narrow 33-31 lead.
Boyne tried to come back at Longford but could not breach Longford’s defence again with Danny McHugh to the fore in the tackle count, in what was a man of the match performance.
Longford: L Brady, P Dardis, P O’Farrell, D Geelan, B McManus, J Geelan, M McHugh, A Beirne, F McGowan, D McHugh, J McGowan, P Molloy, C Hughes, S Moorehead, R McHugh, J Murray, F Davis, A Beirne, D O’Brien.
