Victory worth the wait for Connerton
LONGFORD boss Denis Connerton waited a long time for the taste of a Leinster Championship win. Six years actually, and it was also his first provincial match at home during two spells as county manager.
‘The home venue is huge. It is important for any team, but especially for ourselves,’ the retired school teacher said shortly after the final whistle.
‘It was a fabulous win today. We knew we were up against a very good Meath team, we played very well. That ball that hopped over the crossbar from Conor Berry in the second half to put us five clear, generally all season they haven’t been going over the bar for us.
‘We got the rub of the green today. It is very satisfying, so we are obviously delighted.
‘We were very disappointed that we didn’t get promoted from Division 3 this year. We had worked so hard, we lost a game in Armagh in the last seconds, we lost here against Fermanagh by a point and in the closing stages today it was looking like déjá vu as Meath came back at us and the game was down to a point.
‘The experience we gained from those sort of games in the league stood to us today.
‘We were happy at half-time and we produced a very strong display in the second half. We are a very young team and they really stood up today and showed great pride.’