'I love this club' - hometown hero Aodh Dervin revels in Playoff glory as Longford see off Galway

Andrew Dempsey reports from the UCD Bowl

Longford Town midfielder Aodh Dervin put his name up in lights on Friday evening as he sent his hometown club through to the promotion/relegation playoff final.

Dervin, after producing a superb display, took aim in the 81^st minute – and saw his strike nestle in the bottom corner of the Galway net.

His goal would prove telling as Galway would later score a consolation in the 88^th minute through Killian Brouder.

But that will matter little for Dervin and his Longford teammates who will take on the 9^th placed Premier Division side next weekend.

“I love this club,” he told extratime.com. “It has been such a weird season with everything going on and not being able to get the consistency.

“People wrote us off, but we kept going, and thankfully it worked for us.”

Dervin was found by a deft pass from creative star Dylan Grimes – and he just let fly.

“In fairness to Dylan, he’s been quality all year. I saw the space open up and I just hit it and it thankfully went in the back of the net.”

He added: “We knew what to expect from Galway after the last time. They were scrapping the whole time and we just had to keep winning our battles.

“Matthew O’Brien – 17 years old – was winning all of his battles. I’ve never seen a 17-year-old with his talent.

“We’re on a run so we don’t mind who we play next. We’ll keep going and working so we’re confident that we’ll get the same result.”