Allianz FL D4 Final: Gutsy Carlow claim a rare national title

​Allianz Football League Division Four Final

Carlow 1-24 Longford 2-18

After extra time

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

No great surprise that Carlow required extra time to finally shake off Longford at Croke Park and land the NFL Division 4 title, they'd been waiting over 80 years for a piece of League or Championship silverware after all.

Not since 1944, when Carlow won the Leinster SFC, had they managed to win a spring or summer title with their only other significant win in that period coming in the pre-season O'Byrne Cup competition, in 2002.

Leading by five points with 14 minutes of normal time to go here, Joe Murphy's side was reeled in by a determined Longford who forced extra time at 2-14 to 1-17.

Oran Kenny's 52nd minute goal and points from Liam Glennon, Daniel Reynolds and Matthew Carey secured the stalemate after 70 minutes for resurgent Longford.

The teams were still tied at half time of extra time after splitting eight more points evenly between them.

But the 81st minute red card dismissal of Longford's Ronan Bleakley for a high challenge provided the opening for Carlow to go on and seal a landmark Croke Park win with three late points, two from influential sub Chris Blake who hit 0-4 in total.

Conor Doyle struck the same tally for the Leinster minnows while Ross Dunphy, a former Tailteann Cup All-Star, drilled 1-3 on a memorable evening.

It's the perfect pre-Championship preparation for Carlow who will play neighbours Wicklow in the Leinster SFC on April 12.

But they may kick themselves for not getting the job done in normal time, given the amount of chances they created across the 70 minutes.

They moved 0-4 to 0-1 ahead initially with their angled runs and off-the-shoulder surges allowing them to pick paths through Longford's set defence.

Oisín O'Toole threw Longford a lifeline in the 18th minute when he grabbed a fortuitous goal, levelling the game at 1-2 to 0-5.

Joseph Hagan inadvertently created the chance with a two-point attempt that dropped short and when Carlow goalkeeper Ben McCarron spilled his attempted catch, the goal was on.

It looked like Carlow had escaped when James Moran's shot was blocked but it fell to O'Toole who found the net with a shot that deflected in off McCarron.

Both sides had their purple patches in the second quarter. Carlow firstly reasserted their authority with scores from Liam Gavin, Ross Dunphy and an Eoghan Ruth two-pointer.

Then Dessie Reynolds came alive for Longford, the number seven reeling off five points before half-time, including his fourth two-pointer of the League, to tie the game up at the break, 1-9 to 0-12.

Longford were the happier of the two at that stage as Carlow dropped five score attempts short in the first half and Gavin failed to convert a decent goal chance in the 24th minute.

The sides were level twice more after the restart before Carlow carved out another goal chance in the 46th minute.

Lee Walker had the chance this time that was saved by the outstretched boot of Longford goalkeeper Eoin McGuinness.

Carlow finally got the goal they craved a minute later, Gavin this time playing in Dunphy who showed quick feet to create space close to goal and get his shot away.

Longford looked in real trouble now as Carlow immediately created two more opportunities, Walker firing just over and captain Mikey Bambrick just wide.

When sub Chris Blake notched a 50th minute score after replacing Walker, putting Carlow 1-16 to 1-11 up, he punched the air in delight.

But the joy was again short lived as Longford drilled a second goal to haul themselves right back into it.

Oran Kenny finished it off as Longford punished an errant Carlow kick-out which went short and straight to a blue jersey.

Now Carlow were just two ahead, 1-16 to 2-11, and Longford cut the gap to one when Daniel Reynolds fisted over in the 60th minute.

The inevitable equaliser arrived via the boot of Matthew Carey who slotted over with 90 seconds to spare to force extra time at 2-14 to 1-17.

It surprised nobody that Carlow surged three points clear early in extra time - only for Longford to reel them in again and level it at the break, 2-18 to 1-21.

Longford were rocked by the red card dismissal of Bleakley, only on the field a matter of minutes, early in the second half of extra time for a high challenge.

And Carlow took full advantage, outscoring the 2011 Division 4 champions by three points to no score in the second half of extra time.

Carlow scorers: Ross Dunphy 1-3, Liam Gavin 0-4 (3fs), Conor Doyle 0-4 (2fs), Chris Blake 0-4 (1f), Pádraig Bolger 0-3, Eoghan Ruth 0-2 (tp), Lee Walker 0-2, Colm Hulton 0-1, Jamie Clarke 0-1.

Longford scorers: Oran Kenny 1-2, Dessie Reynolds 0-5 (1 tp), Dylan Farrell 0-4 (3fs), Oisín O'Toole 1-0, Matthew Carey 0-3 (2fs), Daniel Reynolds 0-2, Joseph Hagan 0-1, Liam Glennon 0-1,

Carlow: Ben McCarron; Paddy McDonnell, John Phiri, Colin Byrne; Niall Roche, Dara Curran, Pádraig Bolger; Mark Furey, Eoghan Ruth; Conor Doyle, Colm Hulton, Mikey Bambrick; Ross Dunphy, Liam Gavin, Lee Walker.

Subs: Chris Blake for Walker 49, Jamie Clarke for Gavin 63, Seán Murphy for Roche 69. Adam Burgess for Ruth 82, Aaron Amond for Dunphy 84, Lee Moore for Byrne 85.

Longford: Eoin McGuinness; Patrick Fox, Ryan Moffett, Bryan Masterson; Peter Lynn, Oisín O'Toole, Dessie Reynolds; Liam Glennon, Ronan Sweeney; James Moran, Matthew Carey, Daniel Reynolds; Dylan Farrell, Joseph Hagan, Oran Kenny.

Subs: Paddy Moran for James Moran 47, Cian Brady for Moffett 63, Niall Farrelly for O'Toole 63. Ronan Bleakley for Lynn 78, Matthew Flynn for Glennon 85, Gavin Farrelly for Hagan 86.

Referee: Kevin Faloon (Armagh).