Longford sunk as Dublin drought ends

Dublin 2-12; Longford 2-9: There was plenty of action at Parnell Park yesterday as Dublin finished their third and most successful National League campaign under Tommy Lyons with a win. Their first goals of the year also arrived in a physical encounter with now relegated Longford.

The victory allows Lyons' panel to fly under the radar until their first championship match on June 6th. The media spotlight is always going to shine in the capital but the win ensures it will not be as bright over the coming two months.

"We have fair idea where we are at," said Lyons. "We are looking forward to the championship now. We'll go back into hibernation and just get ready quietly for the championship."

The under-21 players were rested but Alan Brogan made his first start of the year, while Tomás Quinn continues to develop into a quality player. However, the bedrock of the attack remained with the experience of Senan Connell and Jason Sherlock.

Early in the second-half Longford kept their dream of maintaining Division One status alive with a timely revival after going behind 0-9 to 0-5. Paddy Christie made a rare mistake to allow Niall Sheridan into space and he supplied Padraic Davis, who fired past Bryan Murphy. Sheridan added a point two minutes later to level the match.

This brought out the best in Dublin, or, more accurately, Connell. On 43 minutes Quinn sent him through on goal but, faced with a difficult angle, he laid off to Johnny McNally who broke the six-and-a-half game goalless streak.

Four minutes later the result was decided when another clever pass from Connell to Sherlock, just in for a fatigued Brogan, who finished with a shot to the corner of the net.

Any chance of another comeback died when Paul Barden was dismissed for a second yellow card after elbowing Shane Ryan. It was the eighth yellow card to be brandished by referee Fintan Barrett. A dismissal had been coming from the opening handshakes, when John Kenny bashed into Paul Casey and Darren Magee duly got the opening caution for sending Kenny to the deck.

While all this was happening, three strikes from Mossie Quinn gave Dublin an early lead. Davis replied for Longford with three frees but Murphy showed the depth of Dublin's goalkeeping options with two close-range blocks as Sheridan tried to steal a goal. Quinn's fourth point was the last scoring contribution of the first half to leave it 0-8 to 0-4.

Thereafter Longford did not depart quietly from Division One, some comfort for manager Denis Connerton. "It was a very spirited display," he said. "We're back in Division Two, which we didn't set out to do. We were looking to get six points from this league - that was our objective. We didn't reach it so we can have no complaints."

DUBLIN: B Murphy; C Goggins, P Christie, S O'Shaughnessy; S Ryan, P Casey, P Andrews; C Whelan (0-1), D Magee; C Keaney (0-1, free), T Quinn (0-4, free), D Lally (0-1); J McNally (1-0), S Connell (0-4), A Brogan (0-1). Subs: J Sherlock for Connell (26-29 mins), Sherlock (1-0) for Brogan (45 mins), C Moran for O'Shaughnessy (53 mins), R Cosgrove for McNally (60 mins), D Homan for Magee (64 mins), L Óg Ó hÉineacháin for Lally (65 mins).

LONGFORD: D Sheridan; D Ledwith, C Conefry, B Sheridan; M Mulleady, D Blessington, E Ledwith; L Keenan, T Smullen (0-1); D Barden (0-1), J Kenny, P Barden (0-1); J Martin, N Sheridan (0-3), P Davis (1-3, three frees). Subs: M Lennon for Keenan (31-34mins), Lennon for Martin (52 mins),M Kelly for Keenan (58 mins), S Lynch (1-0) for Smullen (67 mins).

Referee: F Barrett (Kildare).