Longford slumped to a heavy 20-point defeat to Kildare in Hawkfield which leaves their Tailteann cup hopes in the balance.
Kildare crushed Longford 3-25 to 1-11, leaving Paddy Christie’s men with a -20 score difference.
It took Longford eight minutes to open their account through a Darren Gallagher free-kick. A Darren Farrell point and another Gallagher free had the scores six-points to three in Kildare’s favour on 17 minutes.
However, the midlanders were left flat footed as Kildare took off, leading 1-16 to five points at half-time. Paddy Woodgate finding the net on 25 minutes.
In fact, Paddy Christie's side went 12 minutes between scores. In that time Kildare racked up 1-6. Joseph Hagan and Aaron Farrell with the points as Longford trailed by 14 at half-time.
While, the second-half saw a small Longford resurgence with points from Gallagher (f), Hagan and Farrell. A second Woodgate left the score 2-21 to eight points with 14 minutes remaining.
Darren Gallagher scrapped the ball into the Kildare net on 58 minutes and the midlanders added points through Paddy McDermott and two from Dylan Farrell. Longford were utterly out classed.
Tailteann Cup knockout stage impact
Leitrim travel to Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in second place in the group after their five point win over Waterford. The score difference may heavily impact Longford’s path to the next round.
The group winners advance to the quarter-final with the second place teams advancing the preliminary-quarter-final. Joining those teams is the three best third place teams.
A draw next week would see Leitrim progress to the next phase unless Longford could rack up a +20 point victory over Waterford.
If Longford finish third in the group, the score difference will dent their hopes of progress. The fourth third placed team in the group stage are replaced by New York in the Preliminary quarter-final.
