Lansdowne kicked off their Division 1 league campaign with a match against a strong Longford side in perfect playing conditions in Lansdowne on Sunday.

The Longford side had narrowly missed out on qualification for the Premier League section and you could see why when they put in a powerful running display in the first half.

Longford were completely dominant for the first half and were leading 29 –0 , having scored 5 tries and 2 conversions, with only 25 minutes of the game gone.

Lansdowne needed to find a response and this they did with a fine cross pitch running movement with some great footwork from Harvey Browne on the left wing setting up Team Captain Patrick McEnroe to crash over in the corner.

Some enforced changes due to injury and a couple of positional swaps were made at half time.

Before Lansdowne could draw breath however Longford managed to score a converted try right at the beginning of the second half. But from then on it was all Lansdowne. Strong running by the forwards along with terrific handling by the backs led to 3 tries and 2 conversions in the second half.

2 tries carried over by the forwards, David Ricketts touching down on both occasions, with a wonderful try where Rhys McGing ran the length of the field to score in between. 2 of the tries were converted by Mark Walsh.

Unfortunately Lansdowne ran out of time in the match but if they can match their second half performance in future games their season will go from strength to strength.

Final score:   Lansdowne 22 – Longford 36

Match report – Michael Galvin