EA Sports Cup Report: Shelbourne 0 - 2 Longford Town

Goals from Gavin Boyne and Dylan McGlade saw Longford Town defeat Shelbourne 2-0 in their EA Sports Cup clash at Tolka Park on Monday evening.

The game was an easy victory for Town, who endured early Shels possession to take the lead through Boyne's header before a second-half strike from McGlade saw them secure progression.

A tepid opening ten minutes were punctuated with few chances, as Shels largely held possession but created little. 

Dylan McGlade created Longford's first real chance but his cross just missed the head of Cody Mulhall in the 8^th minute, and from there Town began to control proceedings. 

They enjoyed quite a bit of freedom down the right flank, with McGlade and Mark Langtry both driving towards James Brown and getting shots off, albeit ones that did little to trouble Jamie Quinn in the Shels goal. 

The home side's best chance came in the 12^th minute, one which nobody was expecting as Chris Lyons caught all of Tolka Park by surprise with a low drive from a quickly taken free kick 30 yards out from goal, a deflection off Stephen Walsh sending it just wide of the left post. 

Control of the ball settled with Town, holding onto it for the duration of the 18^th minute around the Shels box finishing with Karl Chambers finally pulling the trigger and firing just over – although he did bury the effort inside the adjacent food truck. 

Longford's best chance thus far, however, came in the 28^th minute, when a brilliant volleyed through ball from Boyne found McGlade in acres of room on the right flank, and his pinpoint met the head of Mulhall, but the striker just couldn't direct the ball into the goal, sneaking wide left. 

The quality of the final ball was hurting both sides for most of the game but Longford finally made one count in the 38^th minute when a cross from Chambers on the left flank met with a powerful header from Boyne, sending Town into the lead.

Shels, however, went and nearly scored themselves down the other end two minutes later, with a great run from Lyons ending with his shot taking a nervy deflection up off Walsh, and Grimes' header goes just wide. Moments later Ashe was denied in the box by a challenge from Zambra as the home side seemed to wake up at the end of the half. 

The second half got off to a similarly slow start as the first, with a shot from McGlade the first evident opportunity in the half coming in the 52^nd minute. 

Shels' best chance of the whole game was to come moments later, with a free header in the box for O'Leary seemingly destined to go in, but an impressive claw out from Brady kept Longford alive. 

A fine free kick in the 62^nd minute from Kealon Dillon brought a fine save from Shels' keeper Jamie Quinn, before Brady was called into action at the other end, protecting the Longford advantage with a fabulous close range stop from a James English rocket. 

Mulhall, proving the old adage that strikers know exactly where to put a cross, pulled out behind his man and placed in an excellent cross in in the 70^th minute – a cross to no one, however, with the box empty. 

Four minutes later a McGlade corner was not cleared properly and, after receiving the ball from a failed clearance he cut inside his man and fired home a rasper from 18 yards that went through both the hands and legs of the unfortunate Quinn. 

Kevin O'Connor nearly made it 3-0 with 15 minutes to go, rattling off a shot after being played through by Boyne, but he sent it into the side netting. 

A fabulous solo run from McGlade in the 81^st minute saw him beat four Shels players, before teeing up Aidan Friel who also beat four Shels players before eventually being tackled by Byrne, however the resulting corner was off target. 

That was the final real chance of the game, with Shels enjoying much of the late possession but failing to create anything meaningful as Longford romped through.

Shelbourne: Jamie Quinn; Lorcan Shannon, Alan Byrne, Jack Tuite, James Brown; Niall Lanigan, Chris Lyons, David O'Leary; Jackson Ryan, Aaron Ashe (James English 52), Dylan Grimes (Adam Evans 68). 

Subs Not Used: Dean Delany (gk), Derek Prendergast, Reece McEnteer, Mark Hughes, Dayle Rooney. 

Booked: Alan Byrne (61)

Longford Town: Jack Brady: Mark Langtry, Stephen Walsh, Rhys Gorman, Tristan Hoffman; Karl Chambers (Kevin O'Connor 68), Kealan Dillon, Dean Zambra, Gavin Boyne, Dylan McGlade; Cody Mulhall (Aidan Friel 77). 

Subs Not Used: Shane Fagan (gk), Daniel O'Reilly, Darragh Doherty, Aodh Girvan, Enda Curran. 

Booked: None.

Referee: Eoghan O'Shea.

Attendance: 191 (official).

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Jack Brady (Longford Town).