UCD 2 - 1 Longford Town

• Finbarr O'Sullivan
• Sat, Oct 24 2009


UCD put in a performance worthy of champions as they came from behind to beat a plucky Longford Town 2-1 at the Belfield Bowl.

An unlikely smash-and-grab win was on the cards for Longford with ten minutes to go before the Students made their dominance count and grabbed two goals to take all the points. UCD had been on top for the first half and it was entirely against the run of play when Longford took the lead early in the second half.

In the 13th minute, Harding played the ball through the heart of the Longford defence for Ciaran Kilduff. He collected it on the edge of the box and looked to round the Town keeper but when he shot from 18- yards, Shanahan got down to take the power out of the shot and the Longford defence cleared.

In the 30th minute, Longford nearly took a shock lead. Derek Glynn found some space in the middle of the UCD half and he played the ball out wide to Tom King. King advanced down the right before cutting back onto the edge of the six-yard box and shooting at goal. Gerrard Barron stood his ground and palmed the ball away.

In the 39th minute, a cross from the right by John Reilly caused confusion in the Longford box as several players from both sides misjudged the flight of the ball. It eventually fell at the far post for David McMillan and he drove it at goal from the angle of the six- yard box. However, Shanahan got across to block the effort.

Two minutes before the half-time break, another cross from the right by UCD, this time from Harding, was met in the box by the head of Evan McMillan and his header looped over from eight-yards out.

Against the run of play, the visitors took the lead four minutes after the break through Derek Glynn. Tom King received the ball on the right-hand side and danced past Ciaran Nangle before knocking the ball across goal from the goal-line. Glynn ran in at the far post to tap the cross in.

The Town almost doubled their lead when they counter-attacked in the 67th minute. Stephen Gough played the ball out wide to Tom King and he ran at Peter McMahon before shooting from inside the box. McMahon got a touch on the shot and it struck the side-netting.

A minute later, UCD went down the other end and unlocked the Longford defence with a brilliant pass by Ronan Finn. His ball found David McMillan and he tried to round the Longford keeper. Shanahan dived at his feet and clawed at the ball to knock it away.

In the 80th minute, UCD had an effort cleared off the line. Finn was involved once more as his shot from the right was too strong for Shanahan to hold and he spilled it. The ball appeared to be rolling toward goal until Jordan McMillan got back and used his body to stop the ball.

Despite Longford's brave defending and Shanahan's heroics in goal, UCD got the equaliser they deserved in the 82nd minute when David McMillan burst through the Town defence and smashed a shot at goal that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.

Longford had little time to recover as only four minutes later the Students took the lead. When Jordan McMillan fouled David McMillan inside the penalty area, the referee awarded a spot kick. Jordan McMillan was shown his second yellow card before Ronan Finn calmly side-footed the ball into the bottom corner, sending Shanahan the wrong way.

UCD were full value for their victory tonight but Longford will surely feel agrieved to have lost when they had kept the Students out for so long.

UCD (4-4-2): Gerrard Barron; Sean Harding, Andy Boyle, Evan McMillan, Ciaran Nangle (Peter McMahon, 66); John Reilly (Brian Shortall, 89), Ronan Finn, Greg Bolger (Chris Mulhall, 56), David McMillan; Ciaran Kilduff, Paul Corry.
Subs not used: Rob Creevy, Billy Brennan.
Bookings: Evan McMillan (40), Sean Harding (90+1).

Longford Town (4-5-1): Aaron Shanahan; Ray Kenny, Brian McCarthy, Jordan McMillan, Jason McCartney; Tom King, Stephen Gough, Carmine Russo, Gary Curran (Colm Jinks, 71), Kevin Cronin (Michael Lee, 76); Derek Glynn (Adrian Murphy, 83).
Subs not used: Michael Foley, Darren McKenna.
Bookings: Jordan McMillan (45), Ray Kenny (63).
Sent off: Jordan McMillan (86).

Man of the match: Aaron Shanahan - the Longford keeper did all he could to get his side a share of the points at the UCD Bowl by making several crucial saves.

Referee: S. Grant.

Attendance (estimate): 200