League Report: Longford Town 2 - 2 Cobh Ramblers

Longford Town surrendered a two goal lead as they were held to a draw by Cobh Ramblers in their opening First Division fixture.

Town were the better side for most of the game but somehow allowed Ramblers back into the game. For all their possession they didn’t create too many clear-cut chances especially in the second half and this proved costly.

Just five minutes had elapsed when the home side broke the deadlock; Michael McDonnell played in Chris Mulhall and he shot low into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Down the other end Longford keeper Michael Kelly was called into action making a routine save from Cian Leonard.

Although the home side were on top they were unable to create anything of note until the 35th minute when Darren Meenan had a shot that was saved by Ramblers keeper Paul Hunt.

Two minutes from the break Town doubled their advantage; Dean Zambra picked up the ball inside his own half and went surging up the field before playing the ball out to Meenan, they both combine again and the danger is not cleared by Ramblers with Zambra finishing to the net from close range.

Town had a chance to get their third goal in the 62nd minute and kill of the game but Sam Verdon’s shot was saved by Hunt, after he had played a one-two with Mulhall.

The home side were to rue not putting away that chance three minutes later and against the run of play Ramblers pulled a goal back; a corner from the left from Darren Murphy was powerfully headed home by substitute Andrew Wall.

Buoyed up by that goal Ramblers pressed for an equaliser as the home side couldn’t muster up anything to trouble Ramblers netminder Hunt.

Nine minutes from time Ramblers were level when a mistake by Town defender Michael McDonnell was capitalised on by Daniel Hurley who set up Cian Leonard and he finished to the net with a neat strike.

With the game evenly poised both sides went in search of a winner with the home side having the better of the chances. A corner from Shane O’Connor in the 87th minute found Verdon but he was unable to get a decent shot on it and then two minutes later Ramblers defender James McSweeney got a deflection on Verdon’s shot as the Cork side held on for a share of the spoils.

Longford Town: Michael Kelly; Shane Elworthy, Michael McDonnell, Daniel O’Reilly, Alan Kehoe; Shane O’Connor, Dean Zambra, Darren Meenan (Evan Galvin 89); Peter Hopkins, Sam Verdon, Chris Mulhall.

Subs notused: Jack Brady, Tristan Noack-Hofmann, Aodh Dervin, Jamie Hollywood, Karl Chambers, Dean Byrne.

Cobh Ramblers: Paul Hunt; Chris Fleming, Ben O’Riordan, James McSweeney, Adam O’Sullivan (Denzil Fernandes 71); Ian Mylod, Darren Murphy, Jack Lynch (Andrew Wall 56), Anthony McAlvey; Cian Leonard, David Hurley.

Subs not used: Adam Mylod, Kevin Taylor, Stephen Christopher, Karl Caulfield, John Dineen.

Yellow card: Jack Lynch

Referee: Damien McGrath (Mayo)

Attendance: 575 (Official)

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Dean Zambra (Longford Town)