Match Preview: Town v Bohs

In a recent interview with the LOI Central podcast, RTE's Head of Sport, Declan McBennett cited what he felt was the lack of competitive title races in the League of Ireland as one of the reasons more games have not been broadcast in recent seasons. 

While it seems at this moment in time that Shamrock Rovers may be set to enjoy something of a procession to their second consecutive league title, what McBennett seems to fail to realise is the beauty of this league is that there are so many other captivating stories, battles and races still to be played out before the end of the season.

This is something that is unique to the sport of Association Football as opposed to say the GAA Football Championship where there is one winner and 33 losers as in the League of Ireland you still have the race for European places and the battle to avoid the drop to captivate a potential TV audience.

Tonight's game at Bishopsgate is a perfect example of that. Just look at tonight's visitors Bohemians, one of the most instantly recognisable names in Irish Football who up until last week were looking assured of a top four finish and with that a potential place in Europe next season depending on cup results if they did happen to miss out on the automatic Euro berth of third spot.

However, surprise back to back defeats later and all of a sudden the Gypsies find themselves just six points outside of the relegation play-off place which could yet be filled by as many as six other clubs. How on earth Declan McBennett or anyone else within RTE could possibly not find that a captivating storyline is beyond me but thankfully with the amazing work put in this season by James Donnelly, Gary Reilly and all of the Longford Town FC media team this game will be broadcast around the world to fans via LTFC Plus on the LOI TV network.

The three previous encounters between the Red & Black donning clubs have been generally tight affairs with two draws at Dalymount Park and a 2-0 win here for Bohs despite a less than convincing performance from Keith Long's men on the day.

As for Longford Town, relegation is starting to creep closer and closer over the shoulder of De Town players following a disappointing defeat on the road to Derry City last Friday. The game was something of a snapshot of the Town's entire season with cheap defensive mistakes, a lack of cutting edge in the final third and a general lack of luck at times in the game culminating in a 3-0 defeat against a Candystripes side who weren't at their best on the night.

The battling 1-0 win over a now resurgent Dundalk side looks a strong piece of form when you see the performances and results the Lilywhites have pulled out of the bag since and De Town players will have to call upon that same fighting spirit and determination tonight if they are to try and heap further misery on a missfiring Bohs team at present.

While the games look to be running out for Longford to save themselves the motivation to take a few big scalps and play a major part in the final outcome of this season's overall story should set us up for another entertaining night in the Midlands.