Loughinisland seal league

26 September 2018

LOUGHINISLAND secured a place in the top flight of Down football when coming out on top in a thrilling encounter against Longstone on Saturday.

In the process they maintained their record of having won every league game to date in an action-packed encounter at the picturesque Mourne venue.

The Blues got off to a great start with two points from the impressive Declan McClements, either side of one from Paddy McKenny which settled them into the game.

It took ten minutes for Longstone to open their scoring when Michael Ireland slotted over the bar before getting his side’s second with a close range free. A Stefan Mason point put two between the sides, but Longstone were quick to answer when Conor Shields closed the gap to a point at the end of the first quarter.

Declan McClements, Rory Mason and Stefan Mason added a further two points apiece with Aaron McClements scoring a superb point to cap a great first half for the visitors and help them to a six-points cushion.

A brace of points from Mark Poland and an excellent score from Dean Haughian brought the ‘Stone back into contention, but they still trailed 0-12 to 0-6 as Ronan Barry blew for half-time.

As expected, Longstone came out with a sense of purpose on the restart. A point by Stefan Mason was cancelled out by a similar score from Declan Magee for the home side. Jonny Flynn split the posts for the Blues, but Longstone were quick to reply with a close range free from Ireland.

Two goals in two minutes for the home side meant they trailed by a single point and at this stage the game was anyones.

However, Loughinisland’s recent senior championship campaign saw them battle-hardened and they stood tall to a man across the pitch as the Cloch Fhada men asked some serious questions going into the final quarter when they trailed by three points.

Mark Poland and Rory Mason swapped scores and Declan McClements extended his side’s lead to four before Longstone hit back once again through former country star Poland.

With six minutes to go and the game flowing from end to end, Conor Megoran picked up the ball on the right wing and sent it high into the Longstone square.

Stefan Mason reacted quickest and with his back to goal shimmied to make space for a shot which flew past Michael McStay and into the back of the net.

Longstone threw everything at the Blues’ defence with Dan Gordon and Sean Cochrane combining to bravely block a certain goal-bound effort with Gordon taking a boot in the face for his troubles.

Longstone knew it was not to be their day when Chris Turley denied them with a fantastic save to tip the ball over the bar with two minutes left on the clock.

When they needed to dig deep, Loughinisland showed their true mettle. Having been rocked when conceding the two second half goals they steadied the ship with a defence led by Paddy Megoran, Dan Gordon, Jonny Flynn and Dean McLoughlin putting in a rousing last ten minutes when Longstone asked some serious questions.

Declan McClements showed a stature beyond his youthful years in midfield, knocking over five points from play. Aaron McClements looked back to his old self with some magnificent high fielding which propelled his team forward throughout the 60 minutes.

In the forward line Stefan Mason top-scored with 1-7 and alongside Conor Megoran and Rory Mason gave the Longstone defence plenty to think about with great support from Paddy McKenny, John McCarthy and Paul Digney.

Loughinisland: C Turley, S Cochrane, P Megoran, C O’Toole, D McLoughlin (0-1), D Gordon, J Flynn (0-1), D McClements (0-5), A McClements (0-1), R Mason (0-3), P McKenny (0-1), P Digney, C Megoran, Stefan Mason (1-7), J McCarthy.

Longstone 2-13

Loughinisland 1-19

ACFL DIVISION 2

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