Longford Town 3 - 0 Athlone Town

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, Oct 04 2009


It may not have been pretty but that won’t matter to Longford Town who picked up only their third home win of the season with a fine win over their midland rivals at Flancare Park.

This win now sees Longford move to within one point of Athlone and more importantly further away from bottom side Kildare County. A win next weekend against fellow strugglers Mervue Utd will guarantee Longford Town’s safety for next season.

The home side were dealt a blow before the game had even started when goalkeeper Danny O’Leary got injured in the warm-up but in Aaron Shanahan Longford had an able replacement. The net minder pulled off some great saves to ensure his goal stayed intact. Shanahan was ably assisted by a resolute defence with Brian McCarthy in particular in fine form.

Barely one minute had elapsed on the clock when Athlone had the first effort on goal; Gary Murphy played the ball to Robbie Benson who unleashed a powerful shot from about 25 yards out but Shanahan got down well to push the ball away for a corner.

Four minutes later the home side broke the deadlock with their first chance on goal; Michael Lee’s long throw in from the right was back headed into the net by defender Brian McCarthy.

Austin Skelly had a great opportunity to level terms in the 9th minute but his header from Benson’s corner came off the post. Just before the half hour mark Stephen Gough’s long range free was deflected over for a corner.

For all their possession Athlone just couldn’t get that equaliser. Robbie Hamm had an effort which went over in the 33rd minute while good defending from both Shanahan and Ray Kenny denied Franco Georgescu six minutes from the break.

First Shanahan got down low to deny Georgescu with his knees, the ball came back out to the striker but his low shot was cleared by Kenny.

Athlone dominated the early exchanges of the second half and Shanahan was forced into action again in the 61st minute; Mark Sammon laid the ball off to Skelly but the keeper used his legs this time to put the ball out for a corner.

Longford centre-half Kevin Cronin did well in the 70th minute to deny Georgescu; Gary Murphy played a neat ball to the striker but his effort was deflected over by the Longford defender. Two minutes later and against the run of play Athlone found themselves 2-0 in arrears; Adrian Murphy whipped in a cross from the right, Liam Lynch stepped over it and it was left to Gary Curran to finish from close range.

Georgescu had a chance to pull a goal back a few minutes later but he should’ve done better from Murphy’s cross. This was to be their last real effort on goal.

The home side were content in soaking up the pressure in the final ten minutes of the game as the visitors offered very little. One minute from the end of normal time ex Athlone player Murphy got on the score sheet; Darren McKenna broke into the box, he laid the ball off to Derek Glynn who in turn pulled it back for Murphy who made no mistake.

Longford Town: Aaron Shanahan, Ray Kenny, Brian McCarthy, Kevin Cronin, Jason McCartney, Liam Lynch (Darren McKenna, 77), Stephen Gough, Gary Curran, Michael Foley (Tom King, 59), Michael Lee (Adrian Murphy, 46), Derek Glynn.
Subs not used: Carmine Russo, Neil McKenna.

Athlone Town: Barry Andrews, Niall O’Reilly (Anthony Hayes, 76), Robbie Hamm, Mark Sammon, Des Hope, Stephen Place, Gary Murphy, Austin Skelly (Kevin Horan, 87), Franco Georgescu (Sean Brennan, 90), Robbie Benson, Tom O’Halloran.
Subs not used: Kieran O’Reilly, Alex O’Reilly.

Referee: Jim McKell (Tipperary).

Attendance: 300 approx

extratime.ie man of the match: Brian McCarthy (Longford Town): The defender was solid at the back throughout and got his side’s opening goal. Just shaded his team-mates Gary Curran and Aaron Shanahan.