Athlone Town 1 - 1 Longford Town

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sat, Jun 18 2011


Athlone Town stopped Longford Town from making it three wins out of three in the third El Clasico of the season when they came from behind to claim a point at Lisseywoollen on Saturday night.

Longford had the bragging rights coming into this game after winning the previous two meetings; in the EA Sports Cup and the league. But was a very much changed Athlone team after manager Mike Kerley brought in a few new signings in the past two weeks and these players will definitely make the difference for them. Longford Town on the other hand have been hit with injuries and unfortunately still don’t have their strongest eleven available.

Longford Town had a good few players familiar to Athlone Town fans; Des Hope, Mark Salmon, Austin Skelly, Paddy Collins, Niall O'Reilly and Dan Reilly all played in the blue and black. But unlike previous seasons there were no former Longford players involved with Athlone this season.

It was a drab and dour first half and chances were definitely at a premium. Former Athlone striker Austin Skelly had the first shot on goal in the 10th minute but his effort went wide. In the 20th minute Jack Morley broke down the wing and got inside the box but his low cross was cut out by an Athlone defender. In the 32nd minute Conor Kavanagh had a shot for Athlone but Longford keeper Paul Hunt got down to it.

That was literally all that happened until five minutes before the break when the deadlock was broken. Longford played a long ball over the top and Athlone keeper Michael Schlingermann came out of goals to clear. But he slipped and the ball fell to Lee Roche who, from about 35 yards, found the back of the net with a beautiful strike.

One minute after the restart Athlone’s Dave Ryan had a chance but his effort just went wide. Roche should’ve doubled Longford’s advantage in the 61st minute; Keith Gillespie played the ball into him and he bore down on goals but Schlingermann did well to deny him getting his second goal of the game.

Athlone began to come into the game and their pressure was to pay off in the 74th minute when they got back on level terms. Paul Hunt made a great save with his feet to deny substitute Mark Sherlock but unfortunately for him the ball wasn’t cleared and it fell to Noel McGee who made no mistake. Both sides went in search of a winner but couldn’t muster up any clear-cut chances.

Athlone Town: Michael  Schlingermann; Declan Fallon, Jamie Carr, Tommy Barrett, Mark Walshe (Kevin Dunne 69); Conor Kavanagh (Stephen Relihan 76), Wayne Colbert, Jason Hughes, Niall Scullion (Mark Sherlock 70); Dave Ryan, Noel McGee.
Subs not used: Eoin Monaghan, Ronan Stack, Bobby Tier, Scott Gaynor.

Bookings: Mark Walshe (43), Noel McGee (88).
Sendings Off: None.

Longford Town: Paul Hunt; Graham Dowling (Niall O’Reilly 81), Des Hope, Chris Deans, Gary Cronin; Keith Gillespie, Mark Salmon, Thomas Hyland, Jacques Morley (Aidan Roche 76); Lee Roche (Dan O’Reilly 76), Austin Skelly.
Subs not used: Paddy Collins, Craig Walsh, Don Cowan, Stephen Conlon.

Bookings: None.
Sendings Off: None.

Referee: John Grimes (Dublin).
extratime.ie Man of the Match: Dave Ryan (Athlone Town) Was lively throughout and looked a threat.