Section O Says Hello (09/05/13)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen once again from the other side of the ground. In our notes for our last home game two weeks ago, we mentioned how De Town have provided us with some unbelievable entertainment already this season. Two short weeks on, two games and two very important last minute goals and the entertainment just keeps coming and coming. 

Salthill and Waterford

Firstly, we’ll start with a brief overview of our close win against the Galway boys two weeks ago. Having played in front of a big passionate El Clasico crowd the week before, this fixture was always going to seem less exciting. Salthill rarely bring any away fans to games, they are bottom of the league and having trounced them 5-0 in our opening game of the season, there was a relaxed feeling before the game that it shouldn’t be too much hassle obtaining the win. Things seemed to be going to plan when on the 35th minute, Purdy opened the scoring once again against the Salthill boys with a sweetly struck free kick that even Stuey Holt would have been proud of in his day. Within a minute the scores were level when our defence switched off while defending a free kick and it began to look like this wasn’t going to be as easy after all. Town came out much better in the second half, completely dominating most of the play and battering the Salthill goal. Just when it looked like we were going to have to settle for a draw and as the realisation that we had clearly been complacent dawned on us, upped stepped that man to save the day once again. Sully received a great ball from Gavin Doyle in a packed box and once again just like against Athlone last week, he managed to keep calm, pick his spot and slot the ball into the net sending Section O and the rest of the ground into hysterics!

Next up for us was a long trip down to the RSC to visit our old friends in Waterford. Even with our fantastic recent form, some bad memories from our travels down there at the end of last season as well as the fact that the Blues were on a 5 game unbeaten run, meant this game had all the signs of a possible slip up for us. As well as the importance of a good performance on the pitch, many of Section O felt it was important that we bring decent numbers down to Waterford to make some noise after being deservingly criticised by some Blues fans on their visit to us at the start of the season. While the Supporter’s club ran a bus down costing just €10, those of us who were unable to leave Longford so early packed into a car as early as we could and tried to race down to the RSC in time for kick off. By the time we’d gotten to Waterford, most in the car had wished they had taken the bus. Firstly we had to take an alternative route to pick someone up on the way home from Dublin on the N4, we then got completely lost in Naas after taking down some dodgy directions off the internet, ran out of diesel 20 Kilometres outside of Waterford and had to spend a good half an hour driving around the back roads of Mullinvat searching for a pump and even pulling into a farmers yard at one stage enquiring as to whether he had a drop to get us to Waterford. All this and what can only be described as some near death experiences to try and get us there on time once we got on the motorway made the whole trip a very stressful experience for all! As if things couldn’t get any better we arrived into the RSC 15 mins late to the sound of cheers as the Blues went one ahead. For the rest of the half it looked as if it was going to be another miserable evening down in Waterford with Chris Bennion the only thing preventing us from being two, if not three down pulling off some miracle saves. 

Whatever Tony has been saying to the players in his half time team talks this season it seems to be working as De Town once again came out after the break and completely dominated for the whole 45 minutes. We once again battered their goal with chances, the better of which being a perfect lob by Sully, after breaking the offside trap, over our old friend Hylo, who just about got a touch on it to knock it against the post. Special mention also goes to Havo, showing us a different side to his game with a spectacular bicycle kick which thundered off the crossbar. The minutes ticked on with us in desperate need of a goal as they have done so many times this season. Cross after cross was fired into the packed box where the Waterford players had decided early on to park themselves for most of the second half. Finally a loose ball broke and sure enough who was there to prod it into the net...that man..David O’Sullivan! The sound of Section O sounded through the ground as it had done for the whole game. We had succeeded in making our presence known off the pitch and the players once again didn’t let us down with their performance on it! RED & BLACK ARMY!

“Please don’t take my Sullivan away” Marty 29.11

“I think if I walked in on Sully in bed with my girlfriend, I’d probably just tuck him in to make sure he’s not cold” Anonymous 

Harps

Tonight we welcome the boys from Ballybofey to the City Calling Stadium. A win for the Red and Black will put us 10 points clear of Harps at this early stage but we cannot take anything for granted. Our only defeat of the season came against Harps on an absolutely miserable night up in Ballybofey where our old foe Kevin Mc Hugh managed to get on the score sheet. Here’s hoping for much better this time around in terms of the result and the weather and hopefully if you’re a Harps fan reading this you’ll have joined some of the Section O boys in Foxes for a few pints before the game!

Away Days

Fair play once again to the Supporter’s club who subsidised the bus down to Waterford last Saturday. Travelling 3 hours down to Waterford on a Friday evening is not the most convenient away trip, whether its college, school, work or just the fact that is sounds extremely unappealing preventing you. Nevertheless it was great to see a full bus travelling down and making a lot of noise.

Section O are planning on hosting our next away trip for the Athlone match in June. It’s a bit away yet but watch this space as we may have something special lined up!

FIFA Competition

In our continued efforts to raise money for the club, we at Section O had a very successful FIFA PS3 fundraiser two weeks ago. 24 people took part on the night with money raised shared between prize money and paying off the player sponsorship for Etanda Nkolo. We were delighted to be in a position to pay off the player sponsorship so soon and we intend on continuing to raise funds for the club as well as purchasing new flags, running buses etc. A big thanks to all who took part on the night, to Foxes bar who hosted the competition and to all who provided playstations and TV’s.  Winners on the night were 1st Johnny Casey, 2nd Michael Keenan and 3rd Mark Keenan. Pictures to come next week. We hope to host a 2nd competition in the coming weeks so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for more information.

Tweet of the Week

@KeithGillespie7 “Quick tweet to thank the supporters in Section O at Longford Town, I know the lads appreciate your support week in week out Many thanks”.

New Flags

The new flags have been proudly on display at our last two games! If anyone has any ideas for new flags etc feel free to get onto us, as we will be constantly looking to improve anything to do with the atmosphere at matches! Already we’ve had a few people ask us for advice on where to get flags and as we will more then likely be making another order from http://www.ultrasshop.com/ in the next few weeks, we are more then happy to include your flag in the next order!

Our new stickers are also selling well and will be on sale at the match tonight for just 50c each! For anyone interested in having a look at them, they can be seen proudly on display in and around most pubs and nightclubs in Longford and Dublin, lampposts, train stations, toilet walls and of course as of last week, various places around the RSC.

Chant of the Week

(To the Tune of Anarchy by the Sex Pistols)

“I am an LT Fan, I am Longfordian,

I know what I want and know how to give it,

No matter what, the Section O sings ooonnn,

We wanna beeee…Top of the League!”

Congratulations

Not usually something we do in our notes but we would all like to congratulate “Mr Section O” Marty Stapleton on his new job in Dublin. Marty received the good news on the way down to Waterford last weekend and obviously not content with a new job and a last minute equaliser, he then met two, that’s right TWO potential future wives in Supermacs in Portlaoise. The girls were of course LOI fans, dressed in Wexford Youths jerseys on their way home from their match in Athlone. If these two ladies are the female equivalent of the knowledgeable Section O stat man then it won’t be long until we will all have to get to work on some new chants suitable for a wedding ceremony!

Section O Membership

This year the Supporters club are offering a new “Section O” membership to attract younger supporters who wish to get involved. Membership costs the same as the Supporters Club, €10 or €5 for students. We at Section O intend to hold regular meetings where younger fans can ask questions and express their views which can then be brought forward to the Supporters Club. Our first meeting was held in Foxes 2 weeks ago before the Mervue game and was well attended.

Keep updated

If getting a hold of the match programme every fortnight to get your fix of these brilliantly put together notes just isn’t enough for you, make sure to keep up to date with all Section O news by liking our page on Facebook or following us on Twitter at @section_o_ltfc! There is also a new Section O….eh “section” on the official Club site www.ltfc.ltfc.ovh , where we will be hoping to add weekly news as well as any fan pictures we can get our hands on.