Longford get off to a good start

Division Two A/Longford 2-10 Clare 0-10:After a dream start with a goal from a penalty converted by Paul Barden after only three minutes, Longford stayed ahead of Clare at Pearse Park yesterday and eventually came out on top by a fairly comfortable margin.

When midfielder Liam Keenan burst through to score a cracking second goal in the 26th minute, Longford were in control but it might have been different had Clare not squandered three goal chances in the first half which included a shot from Stephen Monaghan that was brilliantly saved by Damien Sheridan.

Clare goalkeeper Joe Hayes, made a point-blank stop to prevent Brian Kavanagh scoring a third goal for Longford in the 27th minute but they still led 2-6 to 0-5 lead at the break with five of the points (three frees) coming from Kavanagh.

However, Clare enjoyed a lot of possession and when midfielder Frank O'Dea shot over the bar in the 58th minute, the gap was reduced to just three points and the same player was unlucky not to score a goal earlier when fisting the ball against the post.

Hayes made four super saves in the second half to deny the Barden brothers, David and Paul, and also Pádraig Berry and substitute Kevin Smyth. His finger-tip stop in deflecting Berry's strike against the post in the 49th minute was top class but it did not matter as Longford finished the stronger to fire over three points without reply.

Paul Barden eased the pressure when converting a 45 in the 61st minute and Kavanagh (free) and substitute Padraic Davis were on target as Longford made sure of their place in the top four and thus are guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland Championship qualifiers while Clare are destined for the Tommy Murphy Cup.

LONGFORD: D Sheridan; D Brady, D Masterson, DC Reilly; S Mulligan, D Hannify, P Dowd; L Keenan (1-0), A O'Connor; P Berry, P Barden (1-1, one 45), T Smullen; D Barden, K Mulligan (0-2), B Kavanagh (0-6, four frees). Subs: K Smyth for Smullen (40 mins), N Farrell for Dowd (47 mins), P Davis (0-1) for D Barden (52 mins), D Farrell for K Mulligan (72 mins).

CLARE: Joe Hayes; L Healy, C Whelan, G Kelly; John Hayes, David Russell, N Considine (0-1); F O'Dea (0-2), G Quinlan; M Murphy (0-1), S Hickey, A Clohessy; S Monaghan, G Brennan, R Donnelly (0-6, five frees). Subs: E Talty for Clohessy (39 mins), E Coughlan for Monaghan (45 mins), G Lyons for Quinlan (63 mins).

Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).