Newbridge edged out of thrilling Towns Cup tie
Bren Commane breaks the tackle of Longford's Andrew Farrell.
Newbridge welcomed division rivals Longford to Rosetown for the quarter-final of the Leinster Towns Cup, with little to separate the sides coming into the game.
The teams had shared the spoils in their two league meetings, Longford winning the first by four points before Newbridge took the return fixture by five. Home advantage proved decisive in those two meetings, and right up until the end here it seemed like that might be the difference between the teams once more.
Playing with a strong wind at their backs in the opening half, Longford put Newbridge under immediate pressure. The home side weathered that early storm well, though, and struck first with a well-worked try finished by Gavin Houlihan. The difficult conditions made the conversion tough, but Newbridge led 5-0.
Longford responded impressively. A powerful break from centre Andrew Farrell, who bounced out of several tackles, saw him score close to the posts, and the conversion pushed the visitors in front at 7-5. Making full use of the wind, Longford soon added a second try when the ball was spread wide for winger David Connolly to finish well. Out-half Jayden Boshoff added his second conversion to make it 14-5.
Boshoff then got in on the act himself, finishing after a break and offload through the middle before converting his own score to stretch Longford’s lead to 21-5, leaving Newbridge with plenty to do.
To their credit, the home side refused to let the game get away from them. They worked their way back up the field, and a sharp break from Robbie Waters saw him dive over under the posts to cut the deficit. Longford, however, had the final say of the half with a penalty on the stroke of half-time to leave the score at 24-12.
With the wind now in their favour, Newbridge knew the next score would be crucial, and they got exactly the start they wanted in the second half. After some strong phase play, Will Jennings crossed the line, and John O’Brien landed an excellent conversion from wide out to narrow the gap to 24-19.
Newbridge had all the momentum at that stage and were right back in the contest, but they were unable to make the most of some promising field position. Longford then showed their threat on the counter, breaking clear and finding substitute Jamie Byrne in space out wide. Byrne beat the final defender to score, restoring a 10-point cushion at 29-19.
A penalty from O’Brien reduced the gap to seven, and Newbridge continued to press. A series of powerful breaks from substitute Michael Ugochukwu brought the home side to the Longford line, and captain Denis Clarke crashed over to level the game in dramatic fashion.
It was a tremendous fightback from Newbridge, and with the sides locked together, the tie was finely poised heading into the closing stages. But with the final play of the game, Longford found one last decisive moment. Another strong break from Farrell carried the visitors deep into the Newbridge 22, and after a series of close-range drives, Dylan Quinn got over for the match-winning try.
It was a hugely entertaining contest and a credit to two evenly matched sides who produced a superb cup tie. Newbridge can take great pride in their season and will look to build again next year, while Longford now advance to next week’s semi-final against Athy.
Darragh Whyte; Gavin Houlihan (1 try), Riain Murphy, James Parkinson, Stephen Cooke; John O’Brien (1 pen, 3 cons), Robert Waters (1 try); David Morgan, William Jennings (1 try), Brendan Commane; Jack Moore, Cameron English; Mark Bennett, Denis Clarke (1 try), Max McLoughlin.
Michael Ugochukwu, Connall Sharkey, Steven McElligott, Chris Leech, Shane Treacy, Fergal Doyle, Donal Cashman.
Conor Mulligan; David Connolly, Andrew Farrell, Ryan McHugh, Oisin Pierson; Jayden Boshoff, Finbarr McGowan; Liam Brady, Ronan Collum, Dylan Quinn; David Geelan, Alan Crowe; Seamus Hanley, Mark McHugh, Séamus McKeon.
Padraig O’Farrell, Barry Sullivan, Danny Ryan, Dean Rogan, Nigel Reilly, Jamie Byrne, Jude O’Rourke.
