England and France U17s play out an entertaining 1-1 at the City Calling Stadium
Pictures by Tiernan Dolan
While De Town were winning away in Drogheda, the U17 teams of England and France played an entertaining 1-1 draw at the City Calling Stadium in front of an excellent crowd on a very cold night.
It was truly a magnificent night for all associated with LTFC…… a 0-1 away win against Drogheda, still top of the table, another clean sheet while at home the international officials hugely impressed with the City Calling Stadium.
The night at the City Calling Stadium was a proud and memorable night for a whole lot of people – the players – the mascots -the family of Man City’s Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who travelled in force (he captained the England side & was very popular with youngsters after the game)- the French supporters and M C Farrell who accepted the plaudits of the England FA on behalf of LTFC.
The icing on the cake, of course, was winning away to Drogheda !
C’mon De Town.
UEFA U17 European Championships starts on Friday!
The UEFA U17 European Championships comes to Ireland on Friday 3rd May, and we are absolutely honoured to host 4 games at the City Calling Stadium. Here’s the groups….
Group A: 🇮🇪 Republic of Ireland (hosts), 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇬🇷 Greece
Group B: 🇳🇱 Netherlands (holders), 🇫🇷 France, 🏴 England, 🇸🇪 Sweden
Group C: 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇷🇺 Russia
Group D: 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇦🇹 Austria
Calendar:
Group stage: 3/4, 6/7 & 9/10 May
Quarter-finals: 12/13 May
Semi-finals & FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off: 16 May
Final: 19 May
Knockout system:
Quarter-final 1: Winner Group A v Runner-up Group B
Quarter-final 2: Winner Group B v Runner-up Group A
Quarter-final 3: Winner Group C v Runner-up Group D
Quarter-final 4: Winner Group D v Runner-up Group C
Semi-final 1: Winner quarter-final 1 v Winner quarter-final 3
Semi-final 2: Winner quarter-final 2 v Winner quarter-final 4
FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off: The two losing quarter-finalists with the best records will take part in this game. The criteria are a) group position, b) group points, c) group goal difference, d) group goals scored, e) quarter-final result, f) overall disciplinary ranking, g) coefficient (as per qualifying round draw), h) drawing of losts
Final: Winner semi-final 1 v Winner semi-final 2
City Calling Stadium hosting these fixtures:
GROUP B (B3 v B2) | Friday 3rd May | 19.00
🏴 England v 🇫🇷 France
GROUP A (A2 v A4) | Monday 6th May | 17.00
🇧🇪 Belgium v 🇬🇷 Greece
GROUP D (D2 v D4) | Tuesday 7th May | 19.00
🇮🇹 Italy v 🇦🇹 Austria
GROUP C (C2 v C1) | Friday 10th May | 17.00
🇵🇹 Portugal v 🇮🇸 Iceland
Photos from Longford Town’s victory over Limerick at the City Calling
Pictures and words by Tiernan Dolan
Dean Byrne’s 74th minute screamer of a goal was enough for all three valuable points in tonight’s tough encounter with Limerick.
Lee Steacy’s penalty save proved crucial in tonight’s win…..and chalked up another clean sheet.
A few yellow cards and a red were flashed by a busy ref in a game which saw the red and black left black and blue.
Some more pics from tonight’s clash.
The clash of the keepers….an amazing scene in the final minute when Limerick’s keeper Jack Brady took on De Town’s Lee Steacy……Lee beat the Shannonsider.
Irish international star Stephanie Roache was a huge and popular hit with the Killoe girls U10 team who won the indoor soccer community games Leinster final today. The girls met Stephanie at tonight’s game.Meanwhile the Killoe U10 boys strutted their stuff at half time in a very entertaining game. Great to see so many from Killoe at tonight’s game.
And where would we be without our mighty and loyal supporters, young and not so young as well as our incredible hard working volunteers. But really, we could do with many more supporters coming out to support this talented bunch of players.
MATCH PREVIEW: Longford Town v Limerick
Match Preview by Tony Ghee
Longford Town go into Saturday’s home clash against Limerick FC in second place in the First Division. Last weekend’s draw away to Cobh leaves Neale Fenn’s charges a point behind league leaders Cabinteely, however, the Midlanders do have a game in hand.
Longford Town are the only unbeaten team in the league with five wins and three draws from their opening eight fixtures, while Limerick despite losing two-nil away to Shelbourne, are just four points off top spot in fifth place.
The earlier meeting between the clubs ended in a scoreless stalemate at the Markets Field with former Town keeper, Jack Brady making some crucial saves between the Limerick sticks to prevent the Town grabbing the winner.
Limerick were outplayed by the Town in the first half but were vastly improved in the second half and came close to scoring in the sixty-seventh minute only for Town stopper Steacy to brilliantly save a stinging effort from Kieron Hanlon.
Longford should have scored on eighty-four minutes after a brilliant move. Peter Hopkins weaved his way past several defenders and sprayed the ball out to Dean Byrne, his pin-point cross to the back post was headed back by Paul O’Connor to Dobbs, but the Town striker’s close-range shot was incredibly saved by Jack Brady with the Town striker firing the rebound wide.
Last week against Cobh, Longford Town were missing the services of strikers Dobbs, Doyle, and Verdon with Verdon and Doyle late withdrawals from the squad due to a slight knock and a dental appointment respectively. Verdon is expected to be out for two weeks, however, Doyle and Dobbs should both be available for selection.
It was great to see Carlton Ubaezuono making his Town debut last week after a lengthy spell out injured and he posed the Cobh defence numerous problems during his substitute appearance and he could prove to be a vital weapon in the Town’s armoury for the remainder of the season.
Carlton Ubaezuonu made his Town debut last week and available for this weekend’s game v Limerick.