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Match Preview: Longford Town FC v Galway United

Fri Jun 1st 2018

SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town FC v Galway United
Friday 1st June 2018
City Calling Stadium, 7.45pm

by James Donnelly

The last time De Town and the Tribesmen met, both clubs played out an entertaining scoreless draw at Eamonn Deacy Park, in a game where local star Aodh Dervin shined, both managers, in particular Town’s Neale Fenn, felt that they could have nicked a winner. A good result away for Longford Town all the same.

Coming into tonight’s game off the back of a disappointing away draw against Athlone Town, Longford will be looking for all 3 points to put them back in the run of things for a play-off spot come the end of the season. Luckily enough with the way league results have gone, Longford have not fallen behind by much. Galway are only 4 points ahead of us going into the game, albeit 3 places ahead on the table, so a win for De Town is a must.

Galway come to the City Calling Stadium off the back of a frustrating 1-0 loss at home to Drogheda United last week. Shane Keegan’s men have been doing well however, currently sitting pretty in 3rd place, they’re only 5 points behind league leaders UCD.

Longford’s Shane Elworthy pictured in action against former Town player Ryan Connolly during the club’s last encounter at Eamonn Deacy Park in March.

Longford Town will be looking to the likes of Daniel O’Reilly, Aodh Dervin and Dean Byrne tonight, should Dean get his chance to go in, with Town striker Chris Mulhall suspended after receiving a straight red in last week’s draw with Athlone. The experience of O’Reilly along with the creativity of Dervin in midfield may prove crucial in tonight’s game.

Galway have former Longford Town player Ryan Connolly in the centre of the field. Connolly, who is club captain, is one of Galways top players, and the Westerners will be looking to his leadership to guide them to a win. Throw in the the possibility of the always threatening Danny Furlong and Town’s defence will have their hands full.

De Town will have to do without Peter Hopkins, Adam O’Connor, Shane O’Connor, Cian Byrne and Alan Kehoe who all remain on the injured list. Chris Mulhall misses out through suspension. Galway are still missing Alan Conway (injured) while prolific goal scorer Danny Furlong remains doubtful along with Tadgh Ryan.

Kick off tonight is 7.45pm

#cmondetown

MATCH PREVIEW: Athlone Town v Longford Town – ‘El Classico’

Thu May 24th 2018

SSE Airtricity League First Division
Athlone Town v Longford Town FC
Athlone Town Stadium • Friday 25th May • 7.45pm

Match Preview by James Donnelly

The second ‘El Classico De Midlands’ of the 2018 season sees Longford Town make the short journey over to Athlone on Friday night to face bottom of the league Athlone. In what used to be a game revelled by many, it has now become a normal league game, one in which many would expect Longford Town to win comfortably.

The first meeting between the teams ended in a 5-1 thrashing in favour of Longford Town. Although Athlone started the game brightly, scoring in the 1st minute courtesy of a brilliant finish from Rory McCullough, Longford went on to dominate the game with goals coming from Chris Mulhall (x2), Dean Byrne (x2) and Evan Galvin.

Since then, Athlone have parted ways with Aaron Callaghan and are now being managed by Terry Butler. Butler has brought some form of stability, albeit not in terms of results but in their way of playing. They narrowly lost out to Drogheda on a 1-0 scoreline at home before losing out to league leaders UCD. UCD were only winning 1-0 until they scored 2 more in injury time. It will be interesting to see the difference in this Athlone team compared to the one that suffered that heavy defeat a couple of months ago.

Longford Town’s Michael McDonnell and Aodh Dervin pictured in action against Athlone earlier in the season.

Longford Town go into Friday night’s game off the back of a frustrating 1-1 draw with Shelbourne FC. In a game that both teams needed to win, a magnificent solo effort from Longford’s Dylan McGlade was enough to cancel out former Town striker David O’Sullivan’s header.

Longford have scored 21 goals so far this season whereas Athlone have struggled in that area, only scoring 6. Longford have also been fairly sound defensively only conceding 12 goals but Athlone have conceded a massive 46 goals in the league so far.

Town will possibly look to wingers Dylan McGlade and Peter Hopkins to open up the play. The return of Aodh Dervin last week was a massive boost and Town fans will be interested to see what role he plays in the derby.

On the team news front, Cian Byrne, Shane O’Connor and Alan Kehoe are all still out on the injury list. Adam O’Connor is doubtful.

Match Preview: Wexford FC v Longford Town FC

Fri May 11th 2018

SSE Airtricity League First Division

Wexford FC v Longford Town FC
Friday 11th May 2018
Ferrycarrig Park
Kick off: 8pm

Match Preview by James Donnelly

Longford Town come into tonight’s league game off the back of a 1-0 league win down in Cobh Ramblers. A solitary Sam Verdon goal was enough to see off the Cork men however Cobh did gain their revenge on De Town only 3 days later, knocking us out of the EA Sports Cup on a 2-0 scoreline. Wexford come into the game off the back of an 8-0 hammering at the hands of league leaders UC at home.

Longford currently sit in 6th place on 15 points with Wexford in 9th place on 7 points. Longford have lost only 3 games in the league this season whereas Wexford have lost 8. Talking numbers, De Town have scored 18 and conceded 11 with Wexford scoring 13 and conceding a massive 30 goals.

The first meeting of the two sides this season took place in March at City Calling Stadium, Longford earning a comfortable 3-0 victory courtesy of a brace from Chirs Mulhall and a goal from Dylan McGlade.

Town stiker Chris Mulhall pictured in action during Longford’s 3-0 win over Wexford FC in March. Chris scored two goals during the game.

Longford’s largest win so far this season was a 5-1 win over rivals Athlone with Wexford also getting their biggest win with a 7-0 hammering of the midlands club.

Longford are without the services of Aodh Dervin, Shane O’Connor, Alan Kehoe and Cian Byrne who all remain on the injured list. However, It was great to see Shane Elworhy returning to action last Tuesday, coming on as a sub against Cobh. Peter Hopkins is also nearly at full fitness and should be available for selection along with Jamie Hollywood who missed the Cobh game due to college exams.

Wexford’s top scorer Aaron Dobbs is doubtful. Conor Sutton and Owen Wall are back in contention after recovering from injury and Ross Kenny is available after his recent suspension.

Kick off at Ferrycarrig is at 8pm. Safe travels to all Town fans travelling to the game.

C’mon De Town!

Match Report: Cobh Ramblers 2-0 Longford Town (EA Sports Cup)

Wed May 9th 2018

EA SPORTS CUP QUARTER FINAL

Cobh Ramblers 2-0 Longford Town FC
Tuesday 8th May 2018 / 7.30pm
St. Colman’s Park

Match Report by James Donnelly

Cobh got their revenge for their 1-0 league loss from Saturday night against Longford Town on Tuesday evening. A 2-0 victory over De Town saw Stephen Hendersons men progress to the semi finals of the EA Sports cup for the first time. A beautiful free kick from Darren Murphy just before half time and second in the later stages of the second half from Andrew Wall was enough to see the Cork men through.

Town started the game positively and made an impact within seconds. A corner led to Tristan Noack-Hofmann heading the ball back towards goal to which Dean Byrne slotted it home however he was ruled to be offside although Cobh’s James McSweeney seemed to have been playing him on and didn’t protest the goal which seems to suggest he thought so also.

Town almost opened the scoring on 16 minutes. A good ball from Darren Meenan to Dylan McGlade saw the Town winger in space, he played in Evan Galvin who whipped in a low cross that was met by Dean Byrne but his shot was just wide of the post.

Cobh had the chance to take the lead only 7 minutes later when David Hurley raced past the Town defence to go through on goal but Longford Captain Dean Zambra raced back in time to get a great tackle in and block the shot. The resulting corner caused a problem but Town defender Daniel O’Reilly was on hand to clear it away with a header.

A much more physical game than the previous Saturday night’s league encounter, Longford found themselves limited in creating chances in the first half. A questionable free awarded to Cobh against Karl Chambers just before half time saw the Cork men open the scoring. Beautifully placed, there was nothing Jack Brady could have done to prevent it from going in.

Darren Meenan pictured in action against Cobh on Tuesday in the EA Sports Cup 1/4 Final. Photo Credit: Steve Alfred/Extratime.ie

Town could have equalized just after the start of the second half. Karl Chambers getting in behind the Cobh defence but he failed to connect with Evan Galvins cross.

Cobh nearly got their second on 77 minutes when a cross from Stephen Christopher just went over the bar, almost catching out Longford.

De Town had the majority of possession in the last 15 minutes but failed to capitalize. While it did look like Longford would get the equalizer and force it to extra time, the goal never came. Chris Mulhall coming closest in the last few minutes, he got onto the end of a long ball and raced through one on one with Mylod in the Cobh goal but his touch took it away from him and Mylod easily gathered.

Cobh got their second immediately after, breaking from Mulhall’s chance, David Hurley played in substitute Andy Wall who cooly rounded Brady in the Longford goal and slotted it home.

Cobh, fully deserved of the win, closed out the game and progress into the semi finals, much to the delight of the small crowd present.

TEAM LINE-UPS

Cobh Ramblers: Adam Mylod, James McSweeney, Ben O’Riordan, Adam O’Sullivan, Kevin Taylor, Stephen Christopher, Darren Murphy, David Hurley, Pierce Phillips, Cian Leonard, Anthony McAlavey.

Subs: Paul Hunt, Peter Callanan, Jaze Kabia, Michael Sadys, Andy Wall, Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh.

Longford Town: Jack Brady, Tristan Noack-Hofmann, Daniel O’Reilly, Dean Zambra (Captain), Sam Verdon, Evan Galvin, Michael McDonnell, Dean Byrne, Karl Chambers (subbed: Ryan), Darren Meenan Subbed: Mulhall), Dylan McGlade (Subbed: Elworthy).

Subs: Michael Kelly, Shane Elworthy, Peter Hopkins, Chris Mulhall, Jackson Ryan, Daniel Ridge, Uli Keller.

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