Galway native Lynch dumps United out
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BALLINASLOE-bred striker Liam Lynch admits it is his dream to one day return home and fill a spot on the roster of Galway United, but there was no wiping the smile off his face when his strike single-handedly bundled them out of the FAI Cup.
The 22-year-old helped lead Longford Town to a shock 1-0 Cup victory against the westerners at Terryland Park on Friday night, a result which manager Gareth Cronin described as “the ultimate smash and grab” with United commanding possession throughout.
Lynch’s shot on 83 minutes was literally Longford’s only decent chance of the entire night, but unlike their hosts, they were able to make use of the opportunity when they had it.
“We came up here tonight with good expectations,” Lynch said.
“ Galway are a good side and in fairness they owned the ball tonight, but there’ve been a lot of games this year down in the First Division where we’ve held the ball for the whole game and one quick break wins the game as you’ve seen tonight.
“It was instinct really, I hit it first time, I was very tired, but that’s it, that’s the way it goes – it either goes in or it doesn’t.”
What appeared like mission impossible prior to kick-off was made even tougher for the First Division side when Neil McKenna was shown a straight red for a poor tackle in the 25th minute. Galway had numerous opportunities to put the game beyond their reach, but failed to find that finishing touch and Longford took the ultimate advantage.
Cronin sympathised with United manager Ian Foster on the nature of the result.
“I’ve been doing this game a long time now and it’s happened to me a few times so I do sympathise with Ian Foster tonight – it’s not nice. But I thought we played very well, defended well as a unit and we took the one chance we probably had in the whole game and we managed to put it away,” he said.
The win was Cronin’s fourth of the eight matches he has been in charge of at the club and although delighted with their Cup progress, it is results in the league that he is chasing with Longford currently still back in 10th place in the First Division.
“Unfortunately two of them (wins) were in the Cup. I’d much prefer to have won four league games. I think the good thing about tonight was it was only our second clean sheet, so I think we’re beginning to look solid now and we need to keep that going,” Cronin said.
“We have five very important league games now against the teams that are around us coming up in the next month so we just need to keep going, keep those clean sheets and we’ll fly up that table.
“That (the league) is the number one priority. The Cup is fantastic and the club has a wonderful record in it, but the league is what it’s all about and I want to finish up high up the table as possible.”
Foster was honest in his summation, acknowledging his side’s inability to convert possession into points.
“For all the possession we had, we couldn’t put them away and I take responsibility for that,” Foster said.
“We’ve been naïve enough to be done on the sucker-punch, for all the possession we had, if you can’t win the game, you certainly don’t lose it, you certainly don’t get done at the other end. It probably was a foul, but we probably didn’t do enough to win it, I think losing it is a bit harsh on us to be fair.
“We certainly deserved a replay, we had the lion’s share of possession, but we were just a bit naïve going forward and obviously they got us on the break and we lost the game on that. They played with one up front for all the match and they beat us on the break – it shouldn’t have happened, but it has. You’ve got to learn, and learn quickly.”
The 22-year-old helped lead Longford Town to a shock 1-0 Cup victory against the westerners at Terryland Park on Friday night, a result which manager Gareth Cronin described as “the ultimate smash and grab” with United commanding possession throughout.
Lynch’s shot on 83 minutes was literally Longford’s only decent chance of the entire night, but unlike their hosts, they were able to make use of the opportunity when they had it.
“We came up here tonight with good expectations,” Lynch said.
“ Galway are a good side and in fairness they owned the ball tonight, but there’ve been a lot of games this year down in the First Division where we’ve held the ball for the whole game and one quick break wins the game as you’ve seen tonight.
“It was instinct really, I hit it first time, I was very tired, but that’s it, that’s the way it goes – it either goes in or it doesn’t.”
What appeared like mission impossible prior to kick-off was made even tougher for the First Division side when Neil McKenna was shown a straight red for a poor tackle in the 25th minute. Galway had numerous opportunities to put the game beyond their reach, but failed to find that finishing touch and Longford took the ultimate advantage.
Cronin sympathised with United manager Ian Foster on the nature of the result.
“I’ve been doing this game a long time now and it’s happened to me a few times so I do sympathise with Ian Foster tonight – it’s not nice. But I thought we played very well, defended well as a unit and we took the one chance we probably had in the whole game and we managed to put it away,” he said.
The win was Cronin’s fourth of the eight matches he has been in charge of at the club and although delighted with their Cup progress, it is results in the league that he is chasing with Longford currently still back in 10th place in the First Division.
“Unfortunately two of them (wins) were in the Cup. I’d much prefer to have won four league games. I think the good thing about tonight was it was only our second clean sheet, so I think we’re beginning to look solid now and we need to keep that going,” Cronin said.
“We have five very important league games now against the teams that are around us coming up in the next month so we just need to keep going, keep those clean sheets and we’ll fly up that table.
“That (the league) is the number one priority. The Cup is fantastic and the club has a wonderful record in it, but the league is what it’s all about and I want to finish up high up the table as possible.”
Foster was honest in his summation, acknowledging his side’s inability to convert possession into points.
“For all the possession we had, we couldn’t put them away and I take responsibility for that,” Foster said.
“We’ve been naïve enough to be done on the sucker-punch, for all the possession we had, if you can’t win the game, you certainly don’t lose it, you certainly don’t get done at the other end. It probably was a foul, but we probably didn’t do enough to win it, I think losing it is a bit harsh on us to be fair.
“We certainly deserved a replay, we had the lion’s share of possession, but we were just a bit naïve going forward and obviously they got us on the break and we lost the game on that. They played with one up front for all the match and they beat us on the break – it shouldn’t have happened, but it has. You’ve got to learn, and learn quickly.”
