Supporters’ Club Notes (17-06-2018)

VITAL VICTORY

We had a vital 1-0 victory over Drogheda last Friday night at the City Calling Stadium. The visitors had a small travelling support and indeed many of our own supporters missed this important win because of the Spain v Portugal World Cup game live on TV. But even though there was small crowd than usual, it was no less noisy and supportive. Our goal came, somewhat against the run of play with Sam Verdon rising highest to head home the only goal of the game. His victory dance is now becoming very popular with our young supporters and was even used during the half time children's game.

After that opening goal, a certain bite entered the game and at times, the ref struggled to keep tabs on proceedings. The visitors did have the ball in de Town net at the end but hearts started beating again when it was noticed that the linesman had it flagged offside.

It was the prefect response to the blip in Cabinteely and leaves sitting pretty enough in 4th place heading into the break. As one happy supporter put it as he unlocked his car... “we've won all our Friday home fixtures this season !” Maybe we should switch from Saturday nights!

ENJOY THE BREAK

We won't have a home game now till July. Our next fixture will be away to league leaders UCD, where hopefully we can teach the students a lesson. In the meantime, there's any amount of games on television to help fill the void. But really, there can't be any substitute for the real live spectacle.

Once again, it was heartening to see so many youngsters enjoying Friday night's game. Seeing the young boys and girls exchange high fives after the game and you know the game will survive locally long after these golden oldies have left the pitch of play. Enjoy the break from play and the talk and gossip about the potential new signings.

PITY POOR MARTY

It's bad enough being stuck in hospital for a long period during the warm summer days . But for Martin Stapleton, it's even worse. Marty is going through a tough time in Mullingar hospital. First of all he has missed our terrific wins against Galway, Finn Harps and Drogheda. That's bad enough but he has no facilities to watch the World Cup games on TV which is a real pain for one of the Town's all time great supporters of the beautiful game. But apart from missing so many games, we really wish Marty a speedy recovery to full health. His main concern as he lay in his hospital bed during the week was how long more he'd be away from the club he loves so dearly. Get well first Marty, there's plenty of games left yet.

CONGRATS

Sincere congratulations to Town players, Shane Elworthy and Jamie Hollywood who played for the Irish Universities and Colleges against their French counterparts last Tuesday. Further congrats to Shane who was awarded player of the game. Ireland won 2-1 and thoroughly deserved their win against a talented French side. According to all accounts, the international organisers were very impressed with our facilities at the City Calling Stadium. We too were impressed with both teams who left the dressing rooms and bench area in a perfect condition. It now looks like we could be rewarded next season with further and more important international fixtures.

THE SCOREBOARD

Work continues indoors on the revamped scoreboard. Not alone should it be able to tell us the score and time but it'll also be able to flash messages for birthdays and lights left on in cars etc. The new scoreboard is being funded by the Supporters' Club.

ONE TEAM. ONE DREAM. WON FRIDAY NIGHT.

The above is the title of the latest book on our domestic league by author Brian Kennedy. It's a superb collection of stories on the highs and lows of every single club in the land and some which are no longer with us. The book also contains a fine collection of excellent photos. Longford Town's fabulous season of 2014 is very well remembered in an article by Martin Stapleton. It'd make a perfect late Father's Day present or indeed just buy it for yourself. Copies are available in Newsround, Ballymahon St.

NEW DADDY

Our media manager James Donnelly is working overtime these days and nights. He's the proud Daddy of his first born and is busy on nappy changing and bottle filling duties. But James still managed to upload the video to our social media various platforms of Sam Verdon's vital winning goal on Friday night.

AND NOW THE BREAK

Despite promises of no notes last week, we simply had to acknowledge our win over Drogheda and a few other items. But that's it for a few weeks. For any updates, keep an eye on our social media outlets. Until then, enjoy the fare from Russia.