Another Away Defeat for Ravens

Longford Torpedo 72-66 Dundalk Ravens


The Dundalk Ravens made the long trip to Longford to face rivals for a top four spot on Saturday night. The Ravens had little excuse with 11 players travelling after two poor losses. The game started at a frantic pace with scores from A Lawless and A Burba. Jim Ward made some great early scores for Longford along with brother John Ward. Two quick fouls forced D McGovern to sit on the bench for most of the 1st half. The first quarter was low scoring but quite physical with A Lawless suffering a nasty fall on fast break and injuring his foot but eventually returned to the game.

The second quarter saw the Torpedoes open an 8 point gap. Though good scores coming from M Mindagas and AJ O'Neill. Fu Faapito began to settle into the game with a couple of good steals and scores on the break. Although Longford were finding easy scores against the poor Ravens defense. At half time Longford led 36-33.

In the second half the Ravens struggled to keep up with the Torpedoes strong defense. After a few minutes of play the referee stopped play due to condensation on both ends of the floor. This is a health hazard and to the credit of Keenagh GAA Centre the maintenance men cleared the condensation with blow heaters to allow the game to continue after a 20 minute stoppage. The stoppage seemed to help the Ravens as they scored seven unanswered points with a three from A Lawless and scores from M Mindagas and A Burba. At the end of the third quarter the Ravens trailed 52-48.

The forth quarter was very aggressive with both teams committing fouls as the both teams looked to seal the win. Though it was the hot shooting of Longford's Jimmy Ward that was to the forefront of everything Longford done. Longford clearly were more organised than the Ravens and this stood to them as the ran out victors on a scoreline of 72-66.

The Ravens next match is a welcomed return to Dundalk with Killenkere the team who travels to Muirhevnamor Sports Centre on Staurday. Tip Off is 6.30 and all support is welcome and free entry to all.

Team and scorers
Darren McGovern (2), Fu Faapito (6), David Maguire (2), John Rafferty (3), M Mindagas (14), T Nerbustas, AJ O'Neil (3), M Karpinski (4), J Loughlin, A Burba (14), A Lawless (18)