Longford's 2016 Championship odyssey is over, as Cork recovered from a four-point deficit at half-time to win by six on a scoreline of 2-9 to 1-6. It means the end of Longford's year, despite the fact that they beat as many Division One teams in this year's championship as Dublin did in the entirety of last year's Championship. At half-time, however, it did look like Longford were going to cause an upset:
The Midlanders eventually ran out of steam, however, and perhaps one of the reasons behind Longford running out of energy was their not being dismissed by the Dublin meeja: the Irish Times were far kinder to Denis Connerton and his team in the build-up to this game:
Hitting the N4...nervous and excited! Most predicting a Cork win. We'll see...! Good luck @OfficialLDGAA #gaa pic.twitter.com/QbG16MEWAo
— Sinéad Hussey (@SineadHus) July 16, 2016
The second half was hugely encouraging for Cork, and while the return of Aidan Walsh and Alan Cadogan dominated the build-up, it was the second-half introduction of Colm O'Neill and Pa Kelly which swung the game in Cork's favour. The game was played at Fortress Pearse Park™, and the hosts gave Cork a kind of canine 'Welcome To Hell' welcome onto the field:
Here are a selection of the images captured by Sportsfile:
Cork will face either the winners of Mayo/Kildare or the beaten Leinster finalists in the next round.
While Longford's journey ended, Clare's continues: they are into the last twelve of the All-Ireland Championship with a 2-17 to 1-13 win away to Sligo. Despite trailing by two points at half-time, the Banner blitzed Sligo with a superb second half performance, outscoring the home side 1-13 to 1-4 in the second half. Clare will really fancy their chances of making it to the last eight: they will face either Tipperary or the losers of Galway/Roscommon in the fourth round.
The main takeaway from this tie, however, is the number of players in white boots:
The stat of the day came from the Cavan/Derry clash, courtesy of Niall McCoy:
Cavan lost six games this year, but only two teams defeated them - Derry (3) and Tyrone (3). #GAA.
— Niall McCoy (@McCoyNiall) July 16, 2016
Cavan led early on, but a red card for Feargal Flanagan in the first-half proved crucial. Cavan were five points ahead at that stage, but slowly saw their lead eaten up by Derry, and while they cling manfully, it was Derry who eventually won out, 1-17 to 0-18.
"An upset but not a surprise" says Tommy Carr on Derry's win against Cavan! A master of contradiction #gaa
— Ian Cooney (@cooney_ian) July 16, 2016
Derry survives! Martin McG will be pleased. Poor Cavan. Connie O Reilly will be disappointed. Mark Lynch is a great futballer.
— Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) July 16, 2016
