{"id":476234,"date":"2026-05-31T14:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/476234\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:53:08","slug":"longford-come-good-to-claim-lory-meagher-cup-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/476234\/","title":{"rendered":"Longford come good to claim Lory Meagher Cup glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Captain Reuben Murray struck the killer goal as Longford produced a terrific second-half display to regain the Lory Meagher Cup title.<\/p>\n

Trailing by two points at half-time, Longford produced a brilliant half of hurling to firstly reel in neighbours Leitrim and then dominate them.<\/p>\n

Murray’s 52nd-minute goal was the crucial score as it put Longford into a lead they held onto, securing their third title at the grade and first since 2014.<\/p>\n

Murray finished with 1-03 and was among a team of solid performers that included former Limerick senior Cathal Mullane, who sniped 0-03, centre-back Martin Farrell and Maiti\u00fa O’Donohoe.<\/p>\n

The five-point win has secured Longford’s promotion to the Nickey Rackard Cup for 2027, capping a great season having already gained promotion from Division 4 of the Allianz Hurling League.<\/p>\n

But it’s the end of the road for Leitrim who had a bright first half but faded out and lamented their nine second-half wides when the game was in the melting pot.<\/p>\n

Leitrim blitzed the group stage of the competition, taking five wins from five to secure a spot in their first national decider since 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Paddy
\nPaddy Lynam (L) fires over a point for Longford<\/p>\n

But they took their time to get going on the grand stage, falling two points down after the opening quarter, 0-02 to 0-04.<\/p>\n

Three Longford points in a row from O’Donohoe helped Longford to maintain that narrow advantage with 27 minutes on the clock, 0-08 to 0-06.<\/p>\n

But Leitrim finished the half strongly, reeling off four points without response and conjuring a couple of goal chances that Kevin Clerkin was unable to convert.<\/p>\n

Colm Canning struck the last two points of the half for the Connacht side, the first off his right from beneath the Hogan Stand, the second a terrific effort off his left side from a central position 50 metres out.<\/p>\n

Leitrim were good value for their 0-10 to 0-08 half-time lead and aside from the Clerkin goal chances, wing-forward Paul Mulligan also had an effort that was well saved by Johnny Maher.<\/p>\n

Playing his club hurling with Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin, Maher kept Longford in it with three first-half saves in all though they were frustrated at the other end by seven wides.<\/p>\n

The third quarter was a forgettable period, the sides splitting four points evenly between them.<\/p>\n

Longford had a great chance to take the lead in the 51st minute but David Buckley and substitute Stephen Murray were both denied by Clement Cunniffe saves.<\/p>\n

The Leinster men still conjured a Paddy Lynam point from that move and got the goal they craved a minute later when Murray pounced from close range, doubling on a long delivery that bounced in the danger area.<\/p>\n

\"31
\nLeitrim’s Pearse Kenny in action at Croke Park<\/p>\n

Clearly energised and high on adrenaline, Murray, wearing number eight but operating at full-forward, followed up with a cracking point from in front of the Cusack Stand into the Davin End.<\/p>\n

Leitrim had enough possession to haul themselves back but wasted too much of it, blasting a series of wides which allowed Longford to lead 1-13 to 0-13 with eight minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

Longford proceeded to reel off five unanswered points from there, including two from Mullane, giving themselves a vital cushion to absorb the concession of a Joe Murray goal for Leitrim right at the death.<\/p>\n

Longford: Johnny Maher; Ciar\u00e1n McNally, Se\u00e1n Lancaster, James Connell; Johnny Casey, Martin Farrell (0-04, 0-04fs), Evan Tully; Reuben Murray (1-03, 0-01f), Paddy Lynam (0-02); Maiti\u00fa O’Donohoe (0-03), Ronan Courtney (0-01), Cathal Mullane (0-03); Joe Rabbitt (0-01), David Buckley (0-01), Miche\u00e1l Mulcahy.<\/p>\n

Subs: Eamonn Allen for Courtney (33), Se\u00e1n Tiernan for O’Donohoe (44), Stephen Murray for Rabbitt (47), Niall Hawes for Murray (68), Kealan Cox for McNally (72).<\/p>\n

Leitrim: Clement Cunniffe; Paul Lenehan, Conor Hackett, Pearse Kenny; Niall Crowe, Martin Feeney, Joe Murray (1-00); Philip Burgess (0-03), Stpehen Goldrick; Paul Mulligan (0-02), James McNabola (0-01), Kevin Clerkin; Dhani Keane (0-01), Colm Canning (0-04, 0-01f, 0-01 65), Gavin O’Hagan (0-02).<\/p>\n

Subs: Mark McHugh for Clerkin (61).<\/p>\n

Referee: Conor Daly (Kildare).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Reuben Murray struck the killer goal as Longford produced a terrific second-half display to regain the Lory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-476234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}