Longford hang on for victory in London

Longford held off a late London resurgence in the final five minutes to claim their first away win of 2025 with a one-point victory in the English capital.

After a positive start, London found themselves setting the pace when Shay Rafter opened the scoring with a brace of points, which were followed by Sean Tucker's effort that gave Michael Maher’s men an early lead of three.

The hosts looked well-organised and structured in attack and at the back, and their defence was able to frustrate and force Longford into a handful of wides and shots on goal that dropped short.

At the other end, the points continued to flow for London; Eoin Walsh, Daniel Clarke and Ciaran Diver were all able to split the posts to give London a six-point lead just before the quarter of an hour mark.

The lengthy wait for a Longford score was ended in the 15th minute when Aaron Farrell got the visitors up and running. But a well-taken Tighe Barry point and a second converted free from Diver helped London pull away from Longford a little bit more.

Despite being the dominant side in the first set of 35 minutes, the Exiles would go into half-time frustrated by losing a seven-point lead slip and level with Longford.

London’s final point of the first-half came in the 20th minute and from then on, the Slashers dominated proceedings up to half-time.

In an 11-minute period, the London lead was totally wiped out thanks to brilliant scores from Matthew Carey and Oran Kenny, with the pair being the real driving force in Longford’s win, ending the game as joint top scorers for their county with six each.

Dessie Reynolds’s score in the 33rd minute was the point that ensured the teams were inseparable at the break.

When the action resumed, Longford took control of the game