| London prepared for a tough encounter with O’Byrne Shield winners. BY LARRY COONEY
 Longford should
be in confident mood ahead of their trip to Ruislip this Sunday.
Luke Dempsey’s side open their campaign against a well-prepared
London side in what could be a close encounter. The visitors will need
to respect their hosts if they are to make a satisfactory start.
Two injury-time points by Kevin Mulligan gave Longford a narrow victory
over Wicklow in the first ever O’Byrne Cup Shield final.
After the Garden County trailed by 0-6 to 0-3 at the interval it looked
as if Longford were going to win comfortably. However Wicklow regained
their composure in the second-half and looked to be in control when Tommy
Gill scored what looked like a decisive goal in the 26th minute to give
them a two-point advantage.
However Longford battled superbly and among their stars were Barry Gilleran
at full-back, Bernard McElvaney at midfield, and Paul Bardon in attack,
who hit back to level the scores once more. As the game approached injury-time,
Mulligan made his important contribution to clinch the winning points.
Meanwhile London continued their preparation for this Sunday’s league
opener with a useful work-out against St. Mary’s College Strawberry
Hill. The students provided stern opposition for Noel Dunning’s
team who took the opportunity to play an experimental line-up and give
a number of players a run-out.
Dunning said: “Preparations have been going quite well and I have
had almost 40 players at most of the sessions to date.”
Dunning expects Longford to be in the best possible condition for the
time of the year.
He said: “Longford have been able to get regular games since the
start of the O’Byrne Cup while we have to rely on one weekend trip
to Ireland to get games. We were grateful for the game against Meath last
weekend.”
As has been the case for so many of his predecessors, Dunning has had
to virtually build a new side since their championship heroics against
Roscommon last May.
He said: “Out of the side that started against Roscommon I think
there’s nine of that side now departed.”
The unavailability of the Hehir brothers is also a severe handicap to
London. Not surprisingly therefore the London manager makes no prediction
about his side will fare in the coming campaign but has stressed that
he hopes the team will at the very least produce some good performances
throughout the campaign. Tir Chonaill Gaels clubman Eamon Sweeney is also
expected to make his competitive debut for London this Sunday.
Dunning said: “The league is certainly a good opportunity to give
players a chance to see what they can do and I intend to give as many
players as I can a chance.” |
