League Report: Longford Town 0 - 1 Galway United
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Jake Keegan’s second half goal was enough to settle this rather lacklustre encounter at City Calling Stadium on Friday night.
Keegan headed home from Gary Shanahan’s cross in the 61st minute to move Galway to within one point of Town who despite this defeat remain in 6th place going into the mid-season break.
In a first half that lacked quality both sides had chances to open the scoring. The home side came close in the fifth minute; Kaleem Simon’s header across the goals met the head of Gary Shaw but his effort was cleared off the line.
One minute later and Galway had a chance; Ryan Connolly’s perfect cross was headed wide by Gary Shanahan. David O’Sullivan and Ben Mohammed both had chances but just couldn’t put them away for the home side.
In the 34th minute Keegan blasted Alex Byrne’s ball over the bar. The home side bossed the early stages of the second half but against the run of play Galway took the lead in the 61st minute; Shanahan got past Conor Powell to put in a cross that was headed to the net by Keegan.
Minutes later Galway could’ve doubled their advantage but David O’Leary’s shot was cleared off the line by Rhys Gorman.
The home then struggled to create many goalscoring opportunities. In the 77th minute Powell delivered a fine ball into the box but David O’Sullivan failed to connect with it. It was another chance wasted as the Town fell to a narrow defeat.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Pat Sullivan, Rhys Gorman, Mark Rossiter, Conor Powell; Mark Salmon, Stephen Rice (Lorcan Shannon 69), Kevin O’Connor, Ben Mohammed; Kaleem Simon, Gary Shaw (David O’Sullivan 10).
Subs Not Used: Paul Hunt, Willie Tyrrell, Jamie Mulhall, Conor Dunne.
Yellow cards: Mohammed (73), Sullivan (93).
Galway Utd: Conor Winn; Colm Horgan, Sam Oji, Stephen Walsh, Marc Ludden; Gary Shanahan, David O’Leary, Alex Byrne, Jason Molloy (Kevin Garcia 55); Ryan Connolly; Jake Keegan .
Subs Not Used: Ger Hanley, Paul Sinnott, Enda Curran, Padraig Cunningham, Killian Cantwell, Cormac Rafferty.
Yellow Cards: None.
Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford).
Attendance: 601.
