Longford held off a late London resurgence in the final five minutes to claim their first away win of 2025 with a one-point victory in the English capital.
After a positive start, London found themselves setting the pace when Shay Rafter opened the scoring with a brace of points, which were followed by Sean Tucker's effort that gave Michael Maher’s men an early lead of three.
The hosts looked well-organised and structured in attack and at the back, and their defence was able to frustrate and force Longford into a handful of wides and shots on goal that dropped short.
At the other end, the points continued to flow for London; Eoin Walsh, Daniel Clarke and Ciaran Diver were all able to split the posts to give London a six-point lead just before the quarter of an hour mark.
The lengthy wait for a Longford score was ended in the 15th minute when Aaron Farrell got the visitors up and running. But a well-taken Tighe Barry point and a second converted free from Diver helped London pull away from Longford a little bit more.
Despite being the dominant side in the first set of 35 minutes, the Exiles would go into half-time frustrated by losing a seven-point lead slip and level with Longford.
London’s final point of the first-half came in the 20th minute and from then on, the Slashers dominated proceedings up to half-time.
In an 11-minute period, the London lead was totally wiped out thanks to brilliant scores from Matthew Carey and Oran Kenny, with the pair being the real driving force in Longford’s win, ending the game as joint top scorers for their county with six each.
Dessie Reynolds’s score in the 33rd minute was the point that ensured the teams were inseparable at the break.
When the action resumed, Longford took control of the game and found themselves three points up by the 43rd minute courtesy of Jayson Matthews, Kenny and Carey, who scored the first two-pointer of the day. Clarke had added another score for London in between those Longford scores.
London were without the influential Diver in the second-half, having lost the attack on the stroke of half-time thanks to a nasty-looking injury. Tucker scored his second point of the afternoon, but Longford responded well through Kenny, Cathal McCabe and another Carey two-point score to ensure control over the hosts and with just 15 on the clock to go, the visitors had a six-point lead.
London love a late show, and it seemed they were going to rescue something to show for their efforts.
Clarke ended a 28-minute wait for a London point, then less than a minute later, Kristian Healy impressively burst through the Longford defence to fire the ball home in style and suddenly it was a two-point game.
Alas, this time, there would be late heroics for London, who were unable to get an equalising score despite Clarke reducing the difference between the two to just a point in injury-time as Longford held on to claim their second win of their 2025 league campaign.
London: Andrew Walsh; Daire Rooney, Matt Moynihan, Nathan McElwaine; Eoin Walsh (Captain) (0-01), Conal Gallagher, Kristian Healy (1-00); Aidan McLoughlin, Liam Gallagher; Joshua Obahor, Daniel Clarke (0-04), Ciaran Diver (0-02, 2f); Sean Tucker (0-02), Shay Rafter (0-02), Tighe Barry (0-01)
Subs: Thomas Lenihan for Ciaran Diver (H/T), Matthew Walsh for Sean Tucker (49’), Josh Crowley-Holland for Josh Obahor (54’), Ciaran McKeon for Conal Gallagher (56’), Conor McKelvey for Tighe Barry (64’)
Longford: Michael Hughes; Patrick Fox (Captain), Oisin O’Toole, Bryan Masterson; Peter Lynn, Ryan Moffett Caolán Lynch; Dessie Reynolds (0-01), Dáire Duggan; Jayson Matthews (0-01), Matthew Carey (0-06, 2tp, 1f), Daniel Reynolds; Aaron Farrell (0-01), Cathal McCabe (0-01), Oran Kenny (0-06)
Subs: Shane Campbell for Caolán Lynch (51’), Jamie Brady Hynes for Daniel Reynolds (64’), Cian Brady for Peter Lynn (64’), Keelin McGann for Oran Kenny (70’)
Referee: Kevin Faloon (Armagh)
