Tipperary defeated Longford by 1-11 to 1-8 in Round 3 of the Hastings Cup Under 21 Football competition at Dr. Morris Park Thurles.
With our second round Hastings Cup game against Galway cancelled due to a waterlogged Duggan Pk Ballinasloe and the refixture suffering a similar fate this time to a snowbound Knonkshegowna GAA grounds in Ballingarry North Tipp, Tipp’s U21 Footballers finally made it on to the pitch last Saturday in Dr Morris Pk and came away with a hard earned three point margin victory over Longford on a scoreline of 1-11 to 1-8.
With U21 Hurling still ongoing in the county, Tipp showing a number of personnel and positional changes from the Kildare game hit the ground running and within twelve minutes had built up a six point lead with points each by Josh Keane, Stephen O Brien, Mark Russell and a Liam Casey goal before Longford opened their account with a point.
With a near monopoly of possession at midfield Tipp continued push home the advantage and were well rewarded with three further Josh Keane points and one by Stephen O’Brien to go nine clear while Paul Shanahans goal bound shot was inches wide with the goalie well beaten. Mark Russell wrapped up the first half scoring leaving Tipp comfortably nine points ahead at the break, 1-8 to 0-2.
The half time team talk by the Longford selectors clearly had the desired effect as on the resumption they laid siege on the Tipp defence and within ten minutes had reduced the deficit by six points including a converted penalty to leave just three between the teams.
A pointed free by Josh Keane kept the scoring ticking over but it was now all hands on deck as Tipp continued to soak up constant Longford pressure which yielded two further points narrowing the gap to two.
With time winding down a super Ian Fahey point took the sting out of the Longford onslaught and with Tipp now having stemmed the tide a heavy tackle on Paul Shanahan saw Stephen O Brien land the resultant free ensuring no way back for the opposition.
Longford did shoot a further point but Tipp having won the Shield equivalent at the expense of Mayo in 2014 will be hoping go one better this year. At the time of writing the postponed Tipp v Galway game is now down for decision on Tuesday January 20th, venue to be confirmed.
Final score, Tipperary 1-11 Longford 1-8
Tipperary: Gearoid Slattery (Cashel KC); Michael O’Connor (Cahir), Jimmy Feehan (Killenaule), Colin O’Shaughnessy (Ardfinnan); Jason Lonergan (Clonmel Commercials), Luke Boland (Moyle Rvs), Pearse Richardson (Arravale Rvs); Liam Casey (Cahir), 1-0, Stephen O’Brien (Ballina) 0-3; Paul Shanahan (Upperchurch Drombane), Ian Fahey (Clonmel Commercials) 0-1, Mark Russell (Lattin/Cullen) 0-2; Tommy Sweeney (Ballyporeen), Josh Keane (Golden/Kilfeacle) 0-5 (0-2 frees), Michael Meagher (Grangemockler).
Subs, Padraig Loorham (Clonmel Commercials) for M. Meagher, Gerry Cronin (Ardfinnan) for T Sweeney, Tony Byrnes (Arravale Rvs) for J. Keane, Niall McKenna (Cahir) for P Shanahan. TJ Ryan (Rockwell Rvs) completed the panel.
Report by Tommy Fitzgerald on behalf of Tipp U21 Football
By Jonathan Cullen Sat 17th Jan
