Longford are in the Junior A final and they can thank Barry Kavanagh, who had an outstanding performance. He scored 2-12 over the 80 minute contest.
The first 60 could not separate the sides as they were tied at 1-11 a piece at the end of regulation. In the extra period it was all Longford as they outscored Brooklyn 1-8 to 0-1 and moved on to the final against Cavan next week.
Longford came out the gate strong and led 0-4 to 0-1 with eight minutes gone. They were using the strength of Kavanagh at full forward and he was answering the call with three of the points. Brendan Donoghue stormed forward to add the fourth and was fouled but kept plugging before tapping over from close range.
It was taking Brooklyn time to settle, but finally settle they did with a very good point from Tomas Corrigan. Kevin Connolly and Ger Grehan were also starting to come to terms with the middle of the field, and with 10 minutes gone they were in front. Grehan fed Corrigan with a low ball, and the nifty corner forward turned his man and fired to the topo right corner of the net.
Four points followed in succession for the men from Kings County, with Connolly firing over from frees and one from play, while Colin May had a gem to push the side into a 1-6 to 0-4 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
Further chances were spurned with wides the result, and Longford took the let off and had two Kavanagh scores before the break to leave just a goal between the sides at the break.
In a game of scoring waves, Longford added to their total and jumped into the lead with a 1-4 outburst to open the second half. Kavanagh had three points while Paul O’Hara had the fourth. He also drove a long ball into Kavanagh that the full forward took and moved forward with before driving it to the back of the net.
After two Brooklyn points, Kevin Smyth had a towering score from distance to edge Longford into a 1-11 to 1-8 lead with five minutes left. They were also saved by Steve Boyle who was very brave in denying Connolly on a goal chance; the keeper was down for a period but returned to play after his heroics.
With time winding down Brooklyn needed a miracle. It came with Connolly carrying it. He had a screamer over the bar, a shot he certainly wanted to stay low.
He followed with a free to leave the minimum between the sides, then assisted to Grehan who fired over the equalizer with seconds left to push the game into extra time.
Within a minute of the new restart Longford was on a roll again with man of the match Kavanagh the leader. He took a Smyth/ O’Hara move and finished it with his second goal.
Following a neat score from Tom Nolan, Kavanagh had three further scores to put clear daylight between the sides. With the first 10 minute extra period over Longford were 2-16 to 1-11 in front.
Brooklyn had their final two shots at salvaging something in the first minute of the final period, but a Connolly screamer flew wide, and then Niall Cawley shot low inches wide. It was the last hurrah.
Longford added points from Brady and Finnigan and victory was secured.
Longford: 1 S Boyle, 2 G Kehoe, 3 M Ledwith, 4 B Donaghue (0-1), 5 V Deleney, 6 M Creegan, 7 S Duggan, 8 P O’Hara (0-1), 9 K Smith (0-1), 10 C Monaghan, 11 M Brady (0-1), ,12 A Finnigan (0-2), 13 S Hand, 14 B Kavanagh (2-12), 15 T Nolan (0-1).
Brooklyn: 1 Demer Sterio, 2 Glen Bar, 3 Conor McGoran, 4 Alan O’Sullivan, 5 Hugh McGee, 6 Adam Kearney, 7 Harry McKeever, 8 Darragh Dublin, 9 Ger Grehan (0-2), 10 Kevin Connolly (0-6), 11 Liam Collins, 12 Niall Cunningham, 13 Niall Cawley, 14 Colin May (0-2), 15 Thomas Corrigan (1-1).
Man of the match: Barry Kavanagh (Longford).
Referee: Pat Donohue.
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