Leitrim players and supporters celebrate after victory over Tipperary secures promotion to Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR RESULTS
WEXFORD 2-18 LONGFORD 2-9
Four teams were still in the promotion shake up going into the final round of action in the Allianz Football League, where the standout fixture was the clash at Chadwicks Wexford Park between Wexford and Longford.
Poor results early in this campaign left both these counties needing to make up ground, but they each rallied well to leave themselves in the promotion mix going into this showdown.
There was no doubt which team kept their form going however, as Wexford were full-value for a nine-point win, albeit it was a victory where Leitrim were the ones that felt the benefit in the shape of promotion and a place in next Saturday’s Croke Park double-header.
After scoring the first four points in a row, Wexford were rocked when 1-1 from Daniel Mimnagh and a Mark Hughes point undid all their good work by the midway point in the first half.
The second quarter was one-way traffic however, with Wexford rattling off 2-5 unanswered before a free from Hughes stemmed the bleeding before half-time. Mark Rossiter found the net from the penalty spot with Glen Malone adding the second major.
Cathal McCabe found the net to give Longford a lifeline after half-time but Ben Brosnan, making a record 175th appearance for the Wexford senior footballers, steadied the ship with two frees, on the way to a 2-18 to 2-9 home win.
LEITRIM 0-15 TIPPERARY 0-9
The vast majority of supporters at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada at Carrick-on-Shannon would have had one ear on those events in Wexford, as they needed Wexford to win and to take care of their own business against Tipperary to reach a league final.
The Premier County didn’t have anything to play for here but they still played hard and competitively, keeping Andy Moran’s men very honest right up until the final whistle.
They had five different scorers from play, including goalkeeper Evan Comerford, going into first half stoppage time when Darragh Rooney made it 0-7 to 0-6 to the Connacht County at the break.
Ryan O’Rourke kicked two of his three points from play to put Leitrim on the front foot after half-time, and even though Tipperary defended manfully, the goal chances they needed never came. Rooney struck 0-9 in total as Leitrim confirmed that next year they will play Division Three football for the first time since 2020.
LAOIS 5-19 WATERFORD 0-9
Wexford had one more survival hope, which rested on their neighbours from Waterford pulling off a shock win against Laois at Carriganore.
Justin McNulty’s side were in absolutely no mood to let that dream get off the ground, and they ran riot in the opening 20 minutes, mercilessly piling on the scores. Evan O’Carroll, Mark Barry (twice) and Paul Kingston all hit the Waterford net to make it 4-8 to no score at that stage, and while they eased off considerably after that, substitute Rioghan Murphy still added his name to the goalscorers in a 5-19 to 0-9 win.
CARLOW 1-17 LONDON 1-10
The other game of the day was at Netwatch Cullen Park, where Carlow had 11 scorers, including 1-2 for Colm Hulton, in a 1-17 to 1-10 win over London.
Preparation for the upcoming provincial championships was the name of the game for both these sides and Carlow, who will make the short trip to Wexford Park for their first round Leinster tie in a fortnight, looked very sharp in the opening ten minutes. Conor Doyle, Ross Dunphy, Conor Crowley, Hulton and Aaron Among all raised white flags before London finally got off the mark through Ciarán Diver.
Carlow made it 0-8 to 0-2 before London’s Patrick Dolan rounded off the first half scoring. Diver and Gareth McDowell followed up after the restart to hint at the possibility of a tight game but Carlow opened up again and were comfortable by the time Hulton and Rúairí Rafferty traded goals in the last ten minutes.