Tag: drogheda united

MATCH PREVIEW: Longford Town v Drogheda United

Thu Feb 28th 2019

Match Preview by Tony Ghee

Longford Town host their first league game of the 2019 season on Saturday night as they entertain Drogheda United at the City Calling Stadium with the game kicking off at 7.30pm. 

Neale Fenn’s charges kept a clean sheet at the Markets Field last weekend in their away draw to Limerick FC, while the Louth side recorded an emphatic four-nil victory at home to Cobh Ramblers as Mark Doyle twice, Chris Lyons, and Adam Wixted all rattled the Cobh net.

The major talking point of the week for the Midlanders was the return of talismanic midfielder Sam Verdon to the club. Verdon was a stand-out player for the ‘Red & Black’ last season until injury ended his season prematurely as Longford just missed out on the play-offs. Sam joined Premier Division side Finn Harps in the new year, but after his contract was cancelled last week, he jumped at the chance to rejoin the club, and he is a major acquisition for the season ahead.

Drogheda made the play-offs last season after coming from behind to beat Longford Town 2-1 at United Park in their third and final league meeting. The victory virtually assured that Drogheda would make the top four at Longford Town’s expense as two Gareth McCaffrey goals earned them all three crucial points after the Town had taken the lead courtesy of Dean Dillon.

In the earlier encounters, Longford won one-nil at the City Calling Stadium with the returned Sam Verdon bagging the contest’s only goal on twenty-seven minutes, while the opening encounter ended in a draw as Ciaran Kelly snatched a last gasp equaliser for Drogheda to cancel out Dean Byrne’s earlier salvo for Longford.

On the team news front, the newly re-signed Sam Verdon goes straight into the match day squad, but winger Carlton Ubaezuono and defender Kevin Knight remain sidelined through injury.

The returning Sam Verdon, who makes a welcome return to De Town.



Town lose to Drogheda to hand play-off initiative to the Louth side

Sat Sep 15th 2018

Match Report by Tony Ghee

Longford Town’s promotion play-off prospects hang by a very thin thread after a two goal salvo from Gareth McCaffrey earned promotion rivals Drogheda United a crucial two-one home victory last night.

The result means that Drogheda leapfrog Longford into the final play-off spot with a two point cushion and a superior goal difference going into the final round of matches next weekend.

Drogheda had the first chance on seven minutes when Richie Purdy’s quickly taken free-kick caught the Town defence napping, and the unmarked Chris Lyons whipped in a dangerous low cross that was just missed at the back post by the lunging Luke Gallagher.

Two minutes later, the home side came close again, as Gareth McCaffrey’s cross from the right picked out striker Lyons, only for Town keeper Mick Kelly to brilliantly save his close range strike.

Longford took the lead on fourteen minutes totally against the run of play. Town striker Dean Dillon won possession twenty-five yards out, weaved his way past three Drogheda defenders and magically curled a stunning twenty yard strike beyond Paul Skinner’s despairing dive into the bottom right corner.

Drogheda should have equalised in the thirty-second minute when William Hondermarck’s exquisite long-range ball over the top of the Town defence put in Mark Doyle, he charged into the box only to shoot wide when he should have rattled the Longford net.

Drogheda deservedly equalised on thirty-five minutes when McCaffrey’s brilliant twenty-five yard free kick from the left, rocketed past Town stopper Kelly and nestled in the bottom right corner.

McGlade could have restored the lead for Longford just before half time, but his lob from a difficult angle on the right over the outrushing home keeper Skinner sailed wide.

The Town had a great chance to regain the lead six minutes after the resumption. Karl Chambers brilliantly dispossessed Conor Kane and passed to McGlade, he inturn released Peter Hopkins with a cleverly disguised pass, Hopkins raced into the box and fired a low shot that Skinner saved with his feet.

On sixty-four minutes, Drogheda won a free-kick on the left which resulted in Gallagher firing McCaffrey’s dangerous ball wide.

Disaster struck for Longford on sixty-nine minutes when Lyons ball over a very high-line Town defence put McCaffrey in the clear, and although he looked well offside, his cool, composed, chipped finish past Kelly was allowed to stand.

Longford almost drew level three minutes later when Chambers just managed to beat Skinner to the ball, however, his sliding effort from a very tight angle hit the side-netting.

A mix-up between Dervin and Zambra almost resulted in a third goal for the home side but Lyon’s diagonal shot flashed just inches wide of Longford’s far post.

The Town almost snatched a dramatic equaliser with the last attack of the game when Town keeper Kelly joined the attack and rose highest to connect with McGlade’s corner, but his header agonisingly went inches wide.

Picture from droghedaunited.ie

TEAM LINE-UPS

Drogheda United (4-2-3-1): Skinner, Deasy, Kelly, Gallagher, Kane, Purdy, Hyland, McCaffrey (Dillon 75 mins), Hondermarck, Doyle (Adeyemo 92 mins), Lyons.

Longford Town (4-4-2): Kelly, Chambers, McDonnell, O’Reilly, Noack-Hofmann, Hopkins (Ryan 94 mins), Dervin, Zambra (O’Neill 83 mins), McGlade, Dillon, Doyle.

MATCH PHOTOS BY KEN KEENAN


MATCH PREVIEW: Drogheda United v Longford Town

Thu Sep 13th 2018

Match Preview by Tony Ghee

Longford Town travel to United Park in Drogheda tomorrow (Friday) for a crunch league clash with play-off rivals Drogheda United, where an away victory will gaurantee Neale Fenn’s charges a promotion play-off spot.

However, a home win will see Drogheda leapfrog Longford into the final play-off berth with just one round of matches to go, a draw will mean that Longford and Drogheda will fight it out on the final day of the regular season in their respective games against UCD and Cobh, with Longford holding a one point advantage.

So far this season, Longford are unbeaten against the Louth side. A Sam Verdon goal assisted by Dylan McGlade gave the ‘Red & Black’ all three points at the City Calling Stadium.

However, the goal that could come back to haunt the Town in the final shake-up, could be Ciaran Kelly’s last kick-of-the-match equaliser when the sides clashed at United Park to cancel out Dean Byrne’s lead goal for Longford.

The game finished in a one-all draw, but Kelly’s goal resulted in a three point swing, and means that if the Town had held on for victory, they would be four points clear of Drogheda instead of just one.

While Drogheda had no game last weekend due to the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup Quarter-Finals, Longford will be looking to bounce back in style from last Week’s Cup mauling at home to double champions Cork City.

Morale is excellent in the Longford camp and last week’s result has firmly been consigned to ‘Room 101’ and will have no bearing on tomorrow’s outcome.

On the team news front, Darren Meenan and Shane Elworthy are suspended, while Dean Byrne and Jamie Hollywood are both definitely out injured. Sam Verdon is not fit for a starting place, but may be fit enough for a place on the bench.



Longford Town Supporters’ Club Notes (11/09/2018)

Tue Sep 11th 2018

SPIN ‘N SPAN

Whatever about the result, the staging of the FAI Quarter Finals last Friday, was a huge success for everyone associated with Longford Town FC. Self praise, they say, is no praise but it might be the only praise we’ll get.

The pitch looked superb, the stewards were friendly and effective, the Clubhouse volunteers under the guidance of Brendan Finnegan coped admirably with the large crowd, we had a top class match programme and the stadium itself was spotless. Every thing was top class on what was an extremely busy week end for the club. Friday night saw 1,181 click through the turnstiles but the following day Saturday, we hosted an U15 game and then on Sunday we had the international stars of tomorrow in the Ireland v Wales U19 International friendly.

We may have lost the Cup game but we certainly gained many new admirers.

RED OR YELLOW?

One of the main talking talking points after the Cork game was the sending off. No one for a moment would suggest, that we could have won the game if the colour of the card was different.

However, that sending off effectively killed the game. By all accounts, the ref had a yellow card in his hand but the linesman kept calling for a red card to be brandished and the rest is sporting history.

ONWARDS

This Friday is a massive game for De Town. Beat Drogheda in their own back garden and we’re in the play offs. After we beat Sligo, they recovered and have been doing quite well since. Cork were surprisingly beaten at home by Sligo and it was Cork who upped their game afterwards (to our cost). So you don’t need a top class Junior Cert to realise where this is going. We simply have to banish Cork from our minds and concentrate on beating the Drogs. We’ve done it before and we can certainly repeat the dose. Fair play to Kieran Burke in his valiant effort to muster transport and support for this vital game.

BITS AND PIECES

On the subject of buses, those who travelled from Cork maintained that they’d have had 400 extra in the City Calling Stadium if the game had been on our usual Saturday. That’s €4,000 lost. Top marks to Kanes Travel who supplied free buses to and from the game. Fair play too to our other generous sponsors Girasole Pizza and Pasta, Edgeworthstown, Andy Byrnes Pub and of course the Longford Arms Hotel. Great to see all of the Kanes staff at the game too; they were saying Bon Voyage to Rose Kane who was leaving her job to take up a position with the UN in South Sudan. It was nice to see two of our former managers at the game Tony Cousins and Alan Mathews. Donald Keogh though was unfortunately absent due to airline difficulties.

Former player “the Flying Schoolmaster” Paschal Quinn RIP was rightly honoured with a minute’s silence; he’d have been chuffed that the occasion was broadcast nationwide. Seamus Murray was able to avail of the facilities to get an excellent aerial photo of the carpet like pitch; the Height for Hire cherry picker was used. James Donnelly our media manager, was able to rub shoulders with the top RTE media folk and by all accounts, they were mightily impressed with his expertise and passion. The scoreboard wasn’t ready for the night but it’s only a matter of a short time now.

We had 1,181 at the game on Friday. When you consider the population of the town is 10,000, that’s a terrific turnout on a working night. In proportion, that would translate to 20,000 in Cork. Not bad.

FRIENDLY U19 INTERNATIONAL

Sunday saw the stars of the future from Wales and Ireland strut their stuff in an U19 Friendly. Ireland had enough chances to win two games but it was Wales who actually won the game by a single goal to nil. Apart from the score, it was a pity that there weren’t more people present to see tomorrow’s talent on show. One player to catch the eye was Ryan Johansson. Ryan came on as a second half sub and immediately made a huge impression. Although only 17, his future looks bright already. He was born in Luxembourg, his father is Swedish and his mother is from up the road in Mullingar – her name is Christine McCarthy. Although he has featured at underage level for Sweden, his mammy must have influenced him to don the green jersey. He’s now a senior player with Bayern Munich and while on their US tour earlier, he featured against Juventus and Man City. He has also played against PSG. No wonder he’s being called a teenage sensation. And there he was strutting his stuff on a Sunday afternoon out the Strokestown Road. Remember where you saw him first. By the way, in the second of the games, Ireland defeated Wales 2-0 in Galway.

MORE INTERNATIONALS?

Earlier on in the season, we had a University International game when we hosted Ireland and France at the City Calling Stadium. Then on Sunday we went a step further up the ladder with the friendly. Seemingly all our visiting guests were impressed with our set up which can only be good for the future. Already, there’s word of more than one international qualifying game to be played in Longford. Now surely that’s a massive success for all involved with the club.


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