PLUCK ROGERS TO THE RESCUE

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GARY ROGERS admitted there wasn’t much science to his penalty kick that propelled Longford’s Mullinalaghta into the history books.

The wing-forward was handed the responsibility in the 59th minute and didn’t disappoint with a blast to the left corner.

It hauled the raging underdogs from two points down to one ahead and they went on to earn a famous provincial win.

To put the result into context, Mullinalaghta are the smallest club in a county that had never even contested a Leinster final before, let alone won one.

And they were up against Dublin champs Kilmacud Crokes, who have just shy of 5,000 members, yet they simply refused to be beaten.

Rogers said: “I just said to myself I’ll hit it as hard as I can and if he saves it, fair play to him.

“In fairness, they were trying to put you off but I’d be doing the same if we were on the other side of things. The thing was to just zone out and to hit it as hard as you can.

“It’s a massive win. Even for myself, I haven’t played county football for a couple of years and for the other lads, we’ll probably never play in a bigger game that this. This is a Leinster final.

“Realistically, Longford won’t go too far in Leinster with Dublin there and so it’s massive and it’s massive for the whole county as well.”

HEROGary Rogers scored late penalty as Mullinalaghta went on to lift the cup