Salthill Devon 0 - 1 Longford Town

• Jason Burke
• Sun, Jul 17 2011


Longford Town recorded their second win on the bounce with a 88th minute strike by young midfielder Craig Walsh at a windswept Drom to defeat Salthill Devon on Saturday night.

Devon, who competed well in this scrappy, yet entertaining affair will feel deflated after a late defensive error allowed Longford to snatch all three points.

Longford settled first and applied pressure on the Devon rearguard with a sequence of long balls, leading to two corners in quick succession, the second of which culminated in a goal line clearance by Salthill midfielder Eugene Greaney.

The early pressure was soaked up by the hosts and in the eighth minute Salthill were awarded a spotkick after the lively Enda Dunne was adjudged to have been brought down just inside the box by Graham Dowling. The resulting penalty was missed the Devon striker Victor Collins with a weak effort sent wide of the keeper's right post.

The Romanian had a chance to make amends on 16 minutes, after a neat exchange between Dunne and Ray Winters lead to a deflected cross from the left to land at his feet in the box, only for him to blast over from five yards.

Although conditions were bad, Longford endeavoured to play the ball on the floor, and a weighted pass by Austin Skelly put the pacey Don Cowan through on goal with only Forde to beat, however, after rounding the keeper Cowan could only rattle the side netting.

As the flood lights came on after 24 minutes, Longford's centre-half Graham Dowling came off with an injury, to be replaced by Paddy Collins.

A half an hour in, Longford had a free kick from a potentially dangerous position. Greaney, again, charging down Walsh's attempt of putting the ball in Salthill's goalmouth.

Keith Gillespie, anonymous for the opening period nearly broke the dead lock after 35 minutes with a kung-fu style volley from outside the box, only for it to fly past Forde's left upright.

A physical exchange between Devon's Paddy Quinlan and Longford's Cowan gave referee Keith Callanan no choice but to produce the game's first booking. The resulting free kick, by the busy Austin Skelly, attempted to catch the keeper off guard at his near post, but the Forde was privy to his designs.

The first half ending goalless despite the host's two glorious chances to take a lead into the dressing room.

The second half started vibrantly, and Devon's Enda Dunne was involved in neat exchanges with Ray Winters, resulting in a dangerous cross which was subsequently hoofed away by the dogged Longford defence.

Longford looked to have opened the scoring after a powerful Skelly header, only for it to be disallowed for an infringement. Skelly was booked for his remonstrations.

Longford should have taken the lead on the hour when Skelly's venomous strike was acrobatically saved by Forde, leading to Greaney clearing the lines once again. The combative Devon midfielder displaying courage and desire in abundance. Devon's captain James Whelan hobbled off to be replaced by Irish underage international Colm horgan on 64 minutes.

Longford started to show more belief and took the game to the hosts with some penetrating passing moves. Craig Walsh attempted to utilise Cowan's pace with some slick through balls, however, with no end product. Salthill answered back with Greaney rocking Paul Hunt's crossbar from a near post Dunne corner.

Gillespie was booked for a high challenge after 72 minutes on Greaney. The Ulsterman provided an excellent cross a couple of minutes later, which screamed out for a header, but was scrambled away by the home defence.

As the game entered the closing stages, it looked as though both sides would have settled for an even share of the spoils, however, a defensive error involving a few Devon defenders and Forde, resulted in the ball dropping conveniently to Craig Walsh, who showed composure and technique to clinically slot the ball into the bottom left corner, much to the away supporter's delight.

After a respectable performance by the home team, they once again have nothing to show for their hard work. Defensive errors have cost them this season and they have now failed to score in four matches. With Wexford Youths recording an impressive win in the South East derby on Friday night, Devon will need to start putting some points on the board. Longford will travel home with their tails up, two successive wins will give them confidence to take on Cork City at Flancare next week.

Salthill Devon: Ronan Forde; Paddy Quinlan, Ray Winters, James Whelan (Colm Horgan 64') Breen Geraghty; Eugene Greaney, Paul Smyth(Gerry Dolan 70') Ronan Conlon, Victor Collins(Niall Brennan 66') Emmet Shaw, Enda Dunne.
Subs not used: Charlie Burke, Timmy Molloy, Shane Browne, Bernard Power.
Bookings: Paddy Quinlan, Eugene Greaney, Breen Geraghty.

Longford Town: Paul Hunt (Stephen Conlon 78'); Graham Dowling (Paddy Collins 24')Gary Cronin, Chris Deans, Des Hope, Craig Walsh; Keith Gillespie, Thomas Hyland, Don Cowan, Austin Skelly, Cathal Brady(Thomas Crawley 64').
Subs not used: Sean Skelly; Alan McCreal, Jack Morley,Lee Roche
Booked: Austin Skelly, Keith Gillespie.

Attendance: 100 approx

Referee: Keith Callanan.

Extratime Man of the Match: Eugene Greaney