Tag: dean byrne

Match Report: Cobh Ramblers FC 0-0 Longford Town FC

Sat Apr 20th 2019

Match Report by James Donnelly

SSE Airtricity League First Division
Cobh Ramblers FC 0-0 Longford Town
Saturday 20th April 2019, 7.00pm, St. Colman’s Park

Ramblers and De Town played out a fairly even 0-0 draw at St. Colman’s Park in Cobh tonight in a game that neither team fully deserved to win.

With Sam Verdon ruled out through injury, Dean Byrne slotted into the team with Carlton Ubaezuonu taking a place on the bench for the first time this season.

Both teams opened the game cautiously, creating little in the opening minutes. It was Longford with the first chance though as Conor Kenna’s header from a corner was tipped over the bar by Mylod in the Cobh goal.

On 33 minutes Dean Byrne almost opened the scoring for De Town. Shooting from just outside the box, his shot was saved by Mylod who tipped it out for a corner. Only a few minutes later, Byrne had an opportunity again but his shot inside the box was blocked by a Cobh body.

Cobh had the best chance of the first half on 40 minutes. A dangerous free kick floated in by former Town player Shane O’Connor was cleared but only as far as another Cobh man, the ball was whipped back in and headed on for Jaze Kabia who stuck a leg onto the end of it, it hit the Town post and was collected by Lee Steacy.

The second half was pretty much the same. Peter Hopkins had a chance on 52 minutes when he turned his man inside the box and shot but his left foot strike was the wrong side of the post and it went out for a goal kick.

Town goalkeeper Lee Steacy was deemed to have handled the ball outside the box on 71 minutes. The resulting free kick came to nothing and Cobh were left to rue their chances.

On a major positive note, Carlton Ubaezuonu made his debut for Longford, coming on in place of Adam Evans. The former Galway and Dundalk man caused problems for Cobh on the left wing.

Carlton Ubaezuonu, who made his competitive debut for De Town tonight.

Cobh forced a save out of Lee Steacy on 78 minutes but that proved to be the final major chance of the game for the home side.

Carlton went close for De Town in the dying minutes, forcing a save out of Mylod but it wasn’t to be as both teams had to settle for a share of the spoils.

TEAM LINE-UPS

Cobh Ramblers: Mylod, Taylor, McSweeney, O’Riordan, O’Connor, O’Connor, Kenny, Turner, Hurley, Fernandez, Kabia.

Subs: Hunt, O’Rourke, West, O’Leary, O’Driscoll.

Longford Town: Steacy, Elworthy, McDonnell, Kenna, Breslin, Hopkins, Dervin, Zambra, Byrne, Brennan, Evans.

Subs: Menton, Ubaezuonu (Evans), O’Conor (Brennan), Hollywood, Noack-Hofmann, Chambers, Manley.

Attendance: 140 est.

MATCH REPORT: Longford Town 3-0 Drogheda United

Sun Mar 3rd 2019

Match Report by Tony Ghee

Longford Town recorded their first opening home league win since 2013 with a three-nil triumph over Drogheda United at the City Calling Stadium and in the process kept a second consecutive clean sheet, although the Town had to rely on the heroics of keeper Lee Steacy to remain in the contest at the interval.

The Town created the first opening in the fourth minute when Sam Verdon’s pass picked out striker Aaron Dobbs but his crisp, low shot was well saved by Paul Skinner.

On eleven minutes, Drogheda’s dangerous right-winger Adam Wixted weaved his way past two Town defenders only to hit his shot straight at Town stopper Lee Steacy.

Longford had a very lucky let-off on eighteen minutes when keeper Steacy came to the home side’s rescue. A superb ball over the top of the Town defence from Luke Gallagher located Mark Doyle inside the Town box, but Steacy produced an excellent save, and moments later, he was called into action again, as he tipped over a long range strike from Mark Hughes.

The ‘Red & Black’ nearly took the lead in the twenty-second minute as Dean Byrne’s brilliant pass released striker Dobbs, however, his shot across goal from the right whistled narrowly wide of Drogheda’s far post.

Longford keeper Steacy was in outstanding form and denied the visitors Hughes twice within sixty seconds on thirty-four minutes. Firstly, he produced a magnificent save to keep out a close range effort from the Drogheda man, and that was followed by an incredible save from a Hughes header after magical play from Wixted had created the chance.

A great knock down at the back post across goal from Verdon set-up Paul O’Connor, but just as the Town player was about to pull the trigger, Sean Brennan’s brilliant sliding challenge rescued the visitors.

Longford broke the deadlock in the sixty-second minute, Byrne seized possession after a mistake from Doyle and ran between the two Drogheda centre-halves before calmly guiding the ball past Skinner, into the bottom left-corner of the Drogheda net.

Dean Byrne opened the scoring for De Town in a 3-0 victory over Drogheda United

Shortly afterwards, Town came close to extending their lead but Breslin’s ball from the left was headed inches over by Dobbs.

Longford sealed the victory on eighty-three minutes with a stunning second goal. Verdon played a perfectly weighted pass to Elworthy on the right, his marauding run took him past Kane and his pin-point cross resulted in Dobbs’ diving header rattling the Drogheda net.

Longford rounded off the scoring in the ninety-first minute when substitute Hopkins beat the offside trap to run onto a Doyle pass, he rounded keeper Skinner and slotted home into the empty net.

TEAM LINE-UPS

Longford Town (4-3-2-1): Steacy, Chambers (Elworthy 81 minutes), Manley, Kenna, Breslin, Verdon, O’Connor, Dervin, Zambra, Byrne (86 mins), Dobbs (Doyle 84 mins)

Drogheda Utd (4-2-3-1): Skinner, Brown, Gallagher, McNally, Kane, Brennan, Hughes, Wixted, (Meaney 73 mins), Byrne, Doyle (Heaney 63 mins), Lyons

PLAYER INTERVIEW: Dean Byrne

Mon Jan 14th 2019

Interview by Andrew Dempsey

2018 heralded a new dawn for many Longford Town players. While some have gone on to pastures new, most have stayed on for one more year at the City Calling Stadium. One man who has decided to stay on is lethal finisher Dean Byrne who lit up the City Calling Stadium on many occasions last term. While injury ultimately cut the Dubliner’s fine debut season short, it was a year that ‘Deano’ stole the hearts of a fiercely passionate and loyal fanbase on the Strokestown Road. After battling through a long-term injury, Byrne caught up with LTFC.ie reporter Andrew Dempsey with a view in mind to next season’s First Division which looks set to excite once more.

With a devastating injury cutting Byrne’s season so cruelly short in June 2018, the road to recovery was difficult for the former AUL star especially in a brutally long off-season as said by Neale Fenn’s dangerous attacking talent.

“It was long. I lost my way a little bit with the injury, but I worked hard and got back on the pitch with Hardwicke in the AUL, so I got going there during the off-season and got myself a head-start in regard to getting back out on the pitch. In September I got back in the gym and started training a little bit on the leg. I was working hard and but before I started back, I had a lot to do. I started doing sessions on my own with Hardwicke, doing sprints and running. Football work came in at the end of September. From then on I started building my leg back up and from there on in I got back with Hardwicke and it worked out well with me.”

While Dean was recovering from his season-ending blow against Cabinteely, the rest of the first-team had no time to feel sorry for themselves. An intense Playoff push was eventually stopped in its tracks by Drogheda with an injury-ravaged Town battling gamely right to the final whistle of the season.

“I couldn’t believe how well the lads got on with all the injuries we had. The team spirit was brilliant and the lads that were there stuck with each other and stuck around to keep a close bond together. It was like a team of best friends and they just kept going. We were obviously really unlucky with how things went in the end but hopefully we can continue the good form from last year and we can hopefully start like a house on fire!”

With the likes of Anto Breslin and Lee Steacey coming in through the doors of the City Calling Stadium, there have been many notable departures from Neale Fenn’s ranks. While the loss of key men such as Daniel O’Reilly and Dylan McGlade will be difficult to initially deal with, Byrne revealed that there is a belief in the squad to stand up and be counted following the departures of such key personnel during the transfer window.

“No matter what or who you bring in, Daniel O’Reilly is going to be a massive loss for us. He’d be a massive loss for any side in the Premier and First Division, and obviously you add in Sam Verdon and Dylan McGlade. I don’t know what you can say about Dylan, his goals were monumental for us last year and they kept us going. Obviously, there’s a large amount of us who are willing to work just as hard and are just as talented as Dylan is so there’s always somebody ready to step in and lead by example. I think we can fill the void quickly and hopefully they can have the same impact as what Sam, Dylan and Sam had for us!”

With the days counting down to the big kick-off away to Limerick FC, Byrne is certainly not one lacking ambition as he is targeting at least a Playoff spot for a young and hungry Red and Black Army in 2019.

“The very least we’re looking for is the playoffs but we’re obviously looking for more than that. We’re all confident in our own ability but as a team we’re all getting on really well in pre-season. there’s some really good talent after coming in to the side and they’ve just gelled in like they’ve been there for years. I think we should be definitely aiming for the playoffs this year and we will cause upsets, big time!”

With the game against Limerick on the opening night pitting Dean against two of his former teammates from last season in Jack Brady and Chris Mulhall, Dean has said, while he is looking forward to the game and meeting up with two of his ex-teammates, all the focus is on beating the Blues come February 22nd at the Markets Field.

“For me personally that’s exactly what I’m looking forward to, getting back in the swing of things and playing for Longford again. I’ve never looked forward to something so much in my life. Obviously playing against Jack (Brady) and Chris (Mulhall) will be different but they were great for me last year. Jack was one of the first who came up to me and I became close with him right from the off last season. He took me under his wings last year and it will be nice to see Jack again and obviously Chris then. I learnt a lot from him last year being a striker and all but hopefully we’ll do them, no disrespect!”

And finally, Byrne called on the supporters to replicate their passion and commitment of last season in 2019 as De Town look to go one further than last season at the City Calling Stadium.

“The fans. I can’t even explain how good they were last season. It was unbelievable to walk out every single week and see them singing away, going at the drums for the whole ninety minutes, win, lose or draw. It was unbelievable. As I’ve said before, I’ve never experienced that kind of support in my life from the amateur ranks so to feel the passion, it really does feed into the players minds and give us that little extra fire in our belly!”

 



All the winners from the Longford Town Awards Night at the Longford Arms

Sun Dec 2nd 2018

Dylan McGlade won the Player of the Year award. Dylan’s father, Carl McGlade was presented with the trophy in his absence by John Oates.

Aodh Dervin won Section O’s Player of the Year and was presented by Between The Stripes presenting duo, Kieran Burke and Jonathan Brier.

Aodh Dervin also won the Young Player of the Year award, a fantastic season for the youngster, and was presented by the host of last night’s awards, Tony Ghee and Kevin Carberry.

And the Goal of the Season award was won by Dean Byrne, and his effort against Drogheda United.
Congrats to all our winners!



Like Us On Facebook

Longford Town Football Club

@LongfordTownFC Tweets


© 2020 LONGFORD TOWN FC | All rights reserved.