Round-up: Weekend's Allianz HL D4 action
Sligo defeated Cavan in Enniscrone. Photo by Sligo GAA
Allianz Hurling League Division Four
Leitrim 2-28 Lancashire 0-15
Sligo 8-19 Cavan 0-12
Warwickshire 0-16 Longford 1-13
With one round of games to go in Division Four of the Allianz Hurling League, Sligo and Longford have secured promotion and a tilt at silverware later this month, but their meeting in a fortnight in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park should still be competitive as there will be home advantage on the table for the winner of that game.
There’s no mistaking who is the form team in the division, however, as Sligo racked up yet another landslide win, putting eight goals past Cavan in Enniscrone.
Cavan were still mathematically in with a shout of sneaking into the top two if they came away with a win from their trip to the picturesque seaside venue, but a Gerard O’Kelly Lynch goal in the opening minute made their task that much harder and Sligo didn’t waste time in building on that foundation, popping over four points in the next six minutes
Eleven minutes passed when Jack Barry finally got Cavan off the mark but the white flag was barely in the ground when Andrew Kilcullen was rattling the net at the other end, and a third green flag from Conor Hanniffy left little or no doubt about who was going to take the points from this game.
Kilcullen top scored with 3-7 for the Yeats County while Thomas Cawley and O’Kelly Lynch got a brace each. For the second week in a row, Cavan were heavily dependent on Mark Moffett, with 0-9 of their 0-12 coming from the Cootehill Celtic player.
Due to this result and Longford’s head-to-head win over Leitrim earlier in the campaign, Longford were assured of promotion regardless of their result in Páirc na hÉireann against Warwickshire, but they didn’t know that when they took the field. Late points from Reuben Murray and Martin Farrell secured a 1-13 to 0-16 draw, a result that meant that they couldn’t be overtaken by any other team.
Matthew Hawes goaled to give Longford a 1-4 to 0-0 lead after 20 minutes, though Lancashire ground their way back into things before half-time and were back with a point after ten minutes of the second half.
Scores from Seán Tiernan, Cathal Mullane and Joe Rabbit gave Longford breathing room again, but the Warwickshire attack, led by Jack Grealish, took control and outscored their visitors by 0-7 to 0-1 before Murray and Farrell saved the day.
Leitrim are the ones who narrowly missed out with eight points from six games, ultimately undone by starting their year with two defeats. They needed to keep Longford and Sligo honest today and did that with a 2-28 to 0-15 home win over Lancashire.
Daniel Miller has been a significant recruit to their cause in 2026 and the Offaly native weighed in with 1-9 today, including 1-3 from play. James McNabola added the other goal while Seán O’Riordan (0-4) and Philip Burgess (0-7) also piled on the points against a Lancashire team that will hope to break their run of five defeats in their derby contest against Warwickshire in a fortnight.
