Longford 0-13 Westmeath 0-11
While Longford will be operating in Division Three next season following their fourth win in the current campaign, the Westmeath tale of woe in the National Football League continues as they suffered the shattering blow of a third consecutive relegation.
Playing in the top flight back in 2014, Westmeath have now ended up in the basement division and were left to rue some costly missed chances in this intriguing local derby at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday.
The official attendance of 1,050 watched Longford survive in a frantic finish, after holding a comfortable four points lead entering the closing stages of the contest, but the home side were reduced to 14 players when Diarmuid Masterson was sent-off for a second yellow card offence in the 62nd minute.
Westmeath points from John Heslin (free) and substitute John Egan deep into stoppage time left Longford sweating it out as had they lost they would have been relegated. But they held out to stay up after holding a slender 0-6 to 0-5 lead at half-time.
Ray Connellan wasted a goal chance in the first half and while Longford keeper Paddy Collum produced a couple of point-blank saves in the second half his side were generally more committed and deserved to retain their Division Three status with Brian Kavanagh, Barry McKeon and substitute Robbie Smyth clocking up 10 points between them.
LONGFORD: P Collum; D Brady, B Gilleran, A Farrell; D Masterson, D McElligott, D Reynolds (0-1); D Gallagher, M Quinn (0-1); B O'Farrell, J McGivney (0-1), B McKeon (0-3, 2f); P McKeon, B Kavanagh (0-5, 4f), L Connerton.
Subs:- R Smyth (0-2) for L Connerton (inj, 32 mins); M Hughes for J McGivney (bc, 48 mins); F Battrim for B O’Farrell (54 mins); CP Smyth for P McKeon (63 mins); M Hughes for B McKeon (70 mins); S Doyle for R Smyth (bc, stoppage time).
Blood Sub: B Farrell for M Hughes (68 mins).
WESTMEATH: D Quinn; K Daly, K Maguire, F Boyle; D Lynch, P Holloway, J Dolan; D Corroon, D Daly; R Connellan, J Heslin (0-5, 4f), K Martin; G Egan, C McCormack (0-3), S Dempsey (0-1).
Subs:- J Connellan for D Daly (half-time); J Egan (0-1) for D Lynch (53 mins); P Greville (0-1) for K Martin (54 mins).
Referee: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
Kildare 0-22 Clare 1-14
Clare will join Kildare in Division Two of the Allianz Football League but will play the Division Three final without David Tubridy after the Clare talisman was sent off on a straight red card for striking out at Ciaran Fitzpatrick in the final act of this encounter.
At that stage though Kildare had finally exerted their authority, their fitness and conditioning coming to the fore as they kept Clare scoreless for the last 15 minutes, while scoring seven points in the meantime to settle matters.
The first half was incredibly open, with Alan Smith in particular looking really sharp for the hosts, scoring four points from play and generally causing mayhem.
Niall Kelly, Paul Cribbin and Tommy Moolick also launched excellent points as Kildare continued to raise the white flags.
The openness of their rearguard and indisciplined defending meant that Clare were more than a match for them however, buoyed by a clear dominance of the midfield sector.
Dublin native Pat Burke scored a goal after a slick move in the 11th minute and with David Tubridy and Eoin Cleary converting the placed balls, it was 0-11 to 1-8 at half time.
Clare began the second half well but could never get more than two points clear.
Kildare held their nerve and the experienced Eamonn Callaghan had a huge impact off the bench, with two points and three assists in the final quarter to help ease the Lilies clear.
KILDARE: T Corley, P Kelly, D Hyland (0-1), O Lyons, C Fitzpatrick (0-1), F Conway, H McGrillen, K Feely, T Moolick (0-1), P O'Neill, E O'Flaherty (0-7 5f), P Cribbin (0-3), N Kelly (0-3), A Smith (0-4), F Dowling. Subs: K Murnaghan for McGrillen (ht), E Callaghan (0-2)for Dowling (47), J Byrne for O'Neill (50), E O'Connor for O'Flaherty (70+1)
CLARE: J Hayes, S Malone, K Harnett, M McMahon, P Lillis, D Ryan, C O'Dea, G Brennan, C O'Connor, S Collins, E Cleary (0-4 0-3f), J Malone (0-4), K Sexton, D Tubridy (0-6 0-3f 0-1 45), P Burke (1-0). Subs: S McGrath for O'Dea (ht), P Collins for Sexton (44), E Coughlan for Malone (58), S Haugh for McGrath (67), G Kelly for Lillis (70+1)
Referee: C Reilly (Meath)
Limerick 0-13 Offaly 1-16
Limerick dropped down to Division Four when well beaten by Offaly at Newcastle West on Sunday.
The opening 10 minutes aside Offaly were in control of a one sided affair and with eight minutes remaining they led by 11 points.
The home side suffered a double blow before the start when Ian Ryan and Tom Lee were ruled out.
Offaly made a slow start though and Limerick led 0-3 to nil inside five minutes with two points by Danny Neville, one free, and Killian Ryan. Michael Brazil opened the Offaly account followed by Peter Nash with a Limerick point.
From the 13th to the 27th Offaly had seven unanswered points from Anton Sullivan, Nigel Dunne, free, Peter Cunningham, Dunne again, Johnny Moloney, Leon Fox and Niall McNamee to have them 0-8 to 0-6 in front.
By halftime Offaly led 0-9 to 0-6 and once they had the opening three points of the second half the outcome was clear.
Offaly: A Mulhall; B Darby, E Rigney, S Pender 1-0; N Darby, J Moloney 0-1, J O'Connor; E Carroll 0-1, N Smith 0-1; L Fox 0-2, P Cunningham 0-1, M Brazil 0-1; N Dunne 0-4 (2f), A Sullivan 0-1, N McNamee 0-2. Subs, J Maher 0-1 (f), G Guilfoyle 0-1) for Cunningham and Fox (55), N Bracken for Brazil (57), C Donoghue for Rigney (61), J Gethings for Fox (55), S Doyle for Maher (68).
Limerick: B Scanlon; J McCarthy, P Browne, S O'Dea; I Corbett, C Fahy, S Cahill; M Donovan, D Tracey 0-1; C Sheehan, D Neville 0-6 (5f), G Noonan; K Ryan 0-1, P Nash 0-2, B Fanning. Subs P Hannon and D O'Sullivan both 20 mins for Scanlon and Donovan injd, S Kelly0-2 (1f). for Ryan 34, P White 0-1 for Fanning 60, S Flanagan for Noonan 60, C Moran for O'Dea 62).
Referee, E O’Grady, Leitrim.
Sligo 0-18 Tipperary 3-9
Sligo and Tipperary couldn’t be separated as both teams gave their all to avoid relegation at Markievicz Park.
Sligo were wasteful in front of goal in the first half registering eight wides but they still led by two points to no score after 12 minutes with Niall Murphy and Brian Egan on the mark.
Alan Moloney then opened the visitors account and by the 15th minute Tipperary were in front when a long high ball into the square was finished to the net by full forward Michael Quinlivan.
Peter Acheson stretched the Tipperary lead in the 20th minute with a goal from the penalty spot after Jason Lonergan was taken down as he raced in on goal.
Six unanswered Sligo points though set the home side up for a slender half time lead.
Evan Comerford converted a 45 at the start of the second half and the sides were level on five occasions before the game ended with both sides holding on to their Division Three status.
Sligo boss Niall Carew said “we were in control for most of the game but Tipperary hurt us in counter attacks.”
Tipperary manager Liam Kearns said "a lot of credit is due to the boys, we were without at least 10 players at the beginning of the year, we are trying to build a new team and its tough going."
