Clonguish beat Longford Slashers to defend hurling crown

Clonguish 2-14 Longford Slashers 1-14

Clonguish retained their Longford SHC title with a hard-fought win over Longford Slashers in Pearse Park.

Clonguish had led comfortably at half-time by 2-10 to 1-5. However, Slashers came right back into the game after the restart, with Clonguish failing to score until the 45th minute.

With the rain pouring down, the final quarter was a dogfight.

Clonguish started the game strongly, with points from Matthew Flynn, Bart Hanley and Joe O'Brien (free) giving their side a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after six minutes.

Slashers got off the mark with a point from Michael Mulcahy. Mulcahy found the net with a goal in the seventh minute, which hit the post on the way to the net.

Clonguish captain Stephen Gregg responded with a goal in the ninth minute.

Matthew Flynn passed to Dan Crossan, who had a shot saved by Slasher’s netminder Noel Dunne.

However, the ball spilled and Gregg was well placed to finish.

Exchanges were tight between the sides. However, Clonguish took a decisive lead in the 23rd minute.

Stephen Gregg passed to Bart Hanley and the Limerick native took his chance well, making it 2-07 to 1-04 to Clonguish.

Longford Slashers hit four answered points early in the second half, with three of them coming from Reuben Murray frees.

Joe O’Brien got Clonguish’s first point of the half with a long-range effort in the 45th minute.

Slashers' David Buckley and Clonguish's Bart Hanley traded points.

At the start of five minutes stoppage time, Stephen Gregg pointed a free to make it 2-14 to 1-12 to Clonguish.

Reuben Murray fired over two frees to give Slashers a chink of light.

However, Murray was also guilty of hitting two wides as injury time expired.

Clonguish Gaels: Eanna Daly; Michael Devlin, Oisin Gately, Padraig