Charlestown’s amazing run came to an end on a sunny, Sunday, Longford afternoon. After a phenomenal year that will go down in the history books, Charlestown came unstuck against a team that were, in truth, stronger, faster and more composed throughout the contest. It is to Charlestown’s credit that they managed to claw back Longford to be only 2 points down at half time. It was a half where Longford fluffed several gilt-edged goal chances that could have put the game to bed by the half-time whistle.
After getting out of jail in the first-half it was hoped that Charlestown could up their game to levels seen in previous games. However, once again the Slashers started more brightly. Charlestown struggled to deal with their pace and in truth they had too many threats around the field, shown by the fact they finished with 6 or 7 different scorers on the day. Charlestown in contrast only saw Deirdre Doherty make her mark on the score board. You felt if Charlestown had 1 or 2 more scoring forwards in their squad they may well have had the fire power to catch Longford.
Charlestown didn’t help themselves throughout with un-characteristically sloppy hand passing being the standout theme of the day for them. In the end Longford, who it must be remembered are a SENIOR club team, playing on their home pitch, were deserved winners on the day. Even so, with Charlestown playing with 14 players for most of the 2nd half, they never gave up, fought and fought until the final whistle and can be proud of their efforts on the day.
The first Connacht Champions in the history of the club, the season of 2022 will never be forgotten, they will always be the first to have done it.
(missing from picture: Kellee Crean and Elaine O’Donnell)
