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Town took a precious three points away from United Park last night, as Sam Verdon tapped in to make it 2 wins on the bounce for De Town. Check out Ken Keenan’s pictures from the game on our Facebook page.
Longford Town were on the cusp of a brilliant away victory over then league leaders Drogheda United when they agonisingly conceded a ninety-fifth minute equaliser with the second-last kick off the game, as they failed to clear a Brennan free-kick and centre-half Ciaran Kelly pounced to rifle home to the bottom corner to secure a draw.
Longford Town have now dropped three points in stoppage time this season, as they also conceded a ninety-third minute goal in the 3-2 away defeat to Shelbourne in Tolka Park.
Drogheda remained unchanged from the side that defeated UCD 2-0 last week, while Neale Fenn made two changes to the Longford team that beat Cabinteely 3-0 last week, as Adam O’Connor came in for the ill McDonnell and Dean Byrne started instead of Sam Verdon.
The action in the first half was mainly contained to the opening fifteen minutes with both sides creating chances. In the fifth minute, Town winger Galvin raced down the left and played the ball inside to Dervin whose twenty-five yard rising strike went just over the Drogheda bar.
Two minutes later, a curling right-wing free-kick from Drogheda midfielder Brennan picked out the unmarked Gallagher fifteen yards out from goal but he headed over the Town bar.
On nine minutes, the visitors attacked down the right and an Elworthy cross resulted in home defender Kelly’s headed clearance falling to Town striker Mulhall but his goalbound shot was brilliantly blocked out for a corner.
Drogheda’s second chance of the contest came in the twelfth minute when an excellent slide-rule pass from Brennan put in McCaffrey and his weak shot was spilled by Town keeper Kelly with the ball being put out for a corner that was easily dealt with by the Town defence.
The game quietened down for the rest of the half although some promising moves especially from the Town broke down with the final ball either slightly undercooked or slightly over cooked.
Longford almost broke the deadlock in the opening minute of the second-half when impressive striker Byrne’s low diagonal shot from the left-edge of the Drogheda box whistled inches wide of the far post with home keeper Skinner well beaten.
The ‘Red & Black’ took the lead on fifty-eight minutes with a sumptuous twenty-five yard thunderbolt from Byrne that rocketed to the bottom left-corner of the net after superb set-up play from substitute Chambers (another of the club’s players who has come through from the underage ranks).
Dean Byrne, who put Town ahead on 58 minutes
Drogheda nearly levelled matters on sixty-two minutes when Chambers was dispossessed by Doyle on the edge of the Longford box and McCaffrey’s goalbound shot was magnificently blocked by Town centre-half O’Reilly.
Two minutes later, Drogheda came close again. A superb ball from Brennan found Duffy on the right and his cross evaded the Town defence to locate Doyle on the right near the end-line inside the box, but his effort from a very tight angle saved by Kelly.
Drogheda piled on the pressure in the final twenty minutes and on eighty-six minutes, substitute striker Lyons headed a Kane cross straight at Town keeper Kelly.
A minute later, Town keeper Kelly produced a world class save as he somehow tipped a close range Ciaran Kelly header over the bar.
It looked like the visitors were going to come away with all three points but Drogheda were given one last chance to snatch a draw in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time. A Farragher ball into the danger area was misjudged by the otherwise excellent centre-half O’Connor with his attempted headed clearance and although O’Reilly headed the ball away, the ball landed at the feet of the impressive Drogheda centre-half Ciaran Kelly and he drilled a low sixteen yard strike to the bottom right corner of the Town net for a dramatic equaliser with the second last kick of the match.
The equalising hero Ciaran Kelly was Drogheda’s best player while young Aodh Dervin was the Town’s man-of-the-match, but there were several other excellent Town displays.
The result means that UCD are the new league leaders on 16 points after their 3-2 victory over Finn Harps, Drogheda drop to second with 14 points, Shels who lost to Cabinteely are third on 13 points, Longford Town and Galway United are next on 12 points to complete the top five.
Next up for Neale Fenn’s charges is next Saturday’s home match against new leaders UCD at the City Calling Stadium. The Town may be without Shane Elworthy who left the stadium on crutches after going over on his ankle, but hopefully, Peter Hopkins will recover from his knock in time for next weekend.
Drogheda United: Skinner, Gallagher, Farragher, Ciaran Kelly, Kane, Brennan, Purdy, Hyland, Doyle, McCaffrey, Duffy.
Substitutes: Deasy for Gallagher (69 minutes), Lyons for McCaffrey (67 minutes), Meaney for Purdy (80 minutes).
Longford Town: Mick Kelly, Elworthy, O’Reilly, O’Connor, Noack-Hofmann, Hopkins, Zambra, Dervin, Galvin, Byrne, Mulhall.
Substitutes: Chambers for Elworthy (55 minutes), McGlade for Hopkins (68 minutes), Verdon for Byrne (83 minutes).
This Friday night sees fourth place Longford Town travel to United Park to face league leaders Drogheda United for a 7-45pm Kick-off. Only four points separate the top five sides but fifth place Galway on nine points do have a game less played than the top four. Drogheda lead a three-way tie at the top-of-the table on thirteen points ahead of Shelbourne and UCD on goal difference, with Longford Town two points further back on eleven points.
Drogheda and Longford Town have both lost one of their opening six matches to date with nine-men Longford losing 3-2 away to Shelbourne at Tolka Park courtesy of a last minute penalty converted by former star player and club record goalscorer, David O’Sullivan, which completed his hat-trick in his first match against the Town since leaving the club in the summer.
Drogheda’s only defeat was a surprise 3-2 loss away to Cabinteely two weeks ago, but the Louth men are on fire infront of goal in this year’s first division campaign as they have scored two goals plus in each of their six league outings to date. Indeed, they ran riot at Ferrycarrig Park registering an 8-1 victory away to Wexford FC and they also put six past Athlone Town in a 6-0 home triumph, so the Town defence will have their hands full in their bid to keep a third consecutive clean sheet, after an impressive nil-all draw away to Galway and last week’s 3-0 home win against Cabinteely.
During the week, the Drogs advanced to the second round of the EA Sports Cup beating Leinster Senior League side Saint Mochta’s 3-2 at United Park with former Longford Town players Kealan Dillon playing the full ninety minutes in midfield and striker Lee Duffy an unused substitute. Another former Town player, keeper Paul Skinner, will probably start in goal for the home side on Friday night.
As well as the former Longford Town players, Drogheda possess plenty of experience and talent in their ranks with the likes of Sean Brennan, Richie Purdy, Jake Hyland, and Chris Lyons all capable of doing damage, while Mark Doyle, Gareth McCaffrey and youngster Eoin McPhillips are also quality players to watch out for.
Longford Town are not quite at full strength as Alan Kehoe and Shane O’Connor will both miss Friday’s encounter, but Dylan McGlade is available again after serving his suspension and his return to the squad is very welcome. Centre-half Daniel O’Reilly is fit for selection after receiving seven stitches in last week’s contest that resulted in his sixteenth minute substitution and that is a further boost for Neale Fenn.
Town’s Chris Mulhall has been in electrfying form this season…
Although he did not score against Cabinteely, striker Chris Mulhall has been in electrifying form this season for the ‘Red & Black’, while Dean Zambra, Sam Verdon, and Daniel O’Reilly will be key to the visitors cause.
Also in excellent form for Longford Town this season are the two local players Aodh Dervin in midfield and Tristan Noack-Hofmann at left-full back, which is a massive boost for the club, the fans, and the locality’s underage players with both Longford Town FC and the Longford and District Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Soccer League.