Daire Doyle praises side as Longford get set for promotion shot

Longford Town boss praised the character shown by his side as they moved to just one more win away from top-flight promotion.

Doyle saw his side earn a 2-1 win over Galway United on Friday evening at the UCD Bowl – and they will now face one of either Finn Harps, Shelbourne or Derry City in the promotion/relegation play-off final.

And while his side are yet to know who they will play just yet, the Longford boss praised his side for coming through yet another play-off clash.

Last time his side faced Galway – they raced into a two-nil lead – but it was soon wiped out as they fell to a 6-2 defeat in the end.

The Red and Black would afford no such opening to the Tribesmen this time round – as they comfortably saw past John Caulfield’s side – despite a late scare.

“We knew (Galway) caused us problems the last time we played them,” Doyle told extratime.com.

“We’ve had a really thorough few weeks with the lads. We’re training them more or less like a full-time team with the demands that we put on them.

“The hard work and preparation that we have put in has shown in our recent performances because we’ve dealt with anything that was thrown at us in each game.”

Despite not being able to attend the game due to Covid-19 restrictions, Longford Town fans did make their voices heard to both players and staff during the week before the game.

And that show of support – albeit online – was something that the Longford players and staff used as motivation for the game as explained by the Town boss.

“We got a lot of messages off our fans over the last few days,” he said.

“We’re delighted with how they’re getting behind us and how they’re encouraging them. And I think that there is a real belief that we have a serious side that has a real chance of getting Premier Division football.

“We’re one game away and we need to prepare, train and put in another really good performance. If we do that, we’ll see what happens.”

He finished: “In one-off games you see that teams tend to go for it a little bit more. I expect something like that next week. I expect an exciting game and we’ll see where that takes us.”