League Report: Longford Town 0 - 0 Finn Harps
Aaron O'Driscoll of Longford Town FC with Sean Boyd of Finn Harps, during the Longford Town v Finn Harps, SSE Airtricity, Premier Division match at, Bishops Gate, Longford. Credit: Gerry Shanahan (ETPhotos)
Longford Town ended a run of three straight defeats when they held Finn Harps to a scoreless draw at Bishopsgate on Tuesday night.
Harps dominated large parts of the game but failed to put away their chances. They were thwarted on a number of occasions by Town keeper Mick Kelly. Joe Gorman was immense throughout in the heart of the Town defence.
Town came into this game buoyed up by their performance in their defeat to Shamrock Rovers on Saturday. Manager Daire Doyle made three changes; Shane Elworthy, Aaron Bolger and Aaron Dobbs dropped to the bench and were replaced by Joe Manley, Sam Verdon and Rob Manley.
For the visitors they made two changes from their defeat to Sligo Rover; Karl O’Sullivan and Ryan Shanley made way for Tony McNamee and former Town player Sean Boyd.
After a sluggish start the home side created the opening chance of the game on 10 minutes; Dylan Grimes played a neat pass to Sam Verdon but his low shot went inches wide, with Harps keeper Mark McGinley beaten.
Nothing much of note was created until the 26th minute when Harps carved out their first opportunity to open the scoring; Barry McNamee played in his brother Tony and he in turn crossed for Sean Boyd but he had too much power on his header and directed it over the bar.
Harps began to enjoy more possession and in the 29th minute Town keeper Mick Kelly brought off an excellent save to deny Boyd from close range. Tony McNamee pounded on the rebound but blasted it over.
Kelly was called into action in the early minutes of the second half saving Ethan Boyle’s effort as the visitors pressed to break the deadlock.
Verdon wasted an opportunity when blasted over in the 53rd minute but the home side didn’t create too many chances of note and McGinley was rarely called into action.
On 75 minutes, Barry McNamee’s free was punched away by the Town netminder, it fell to Ryan Shanley on the edge of the box but he fired over.
Minutes later Shanley’s low drive was deflected off Aaron Dobbs for a corner as Harps piled on the pressure in hope of getting that opening goal but it didn’t come as the home side held firm.
Longford Town: Mick Kelly; Joe Manley, Aaron O’Driscoll, Joe Gorman, Paddy Kirk; Aaron Robinson, Aodh Dervin; Karl Chambers, Sam Verdon, Dylan Grimes (Conor Davis 79); Rob Manley (Aaron Dobbs 71).
Subs: Lee Steacy, Shane Elworthy, Mick McDonnell, Aaron Dobbs, Callum Thompson, Aaron Bolger, Matthew O’Brien, Ben Lynch, Conor Davis.
Booking: Aodh Dervin 74
Finn Harps: Mark McGinley; Shane McEleney (Stephen Folan, ‘18), Ethan Boyle (Stephen Doherty 89), Kosovar Sadiki, Dave Webster; Tony McNamee (Mark Russell 73), Mark Coyle, Will Seymore, Barry McNamee; Sean Boyd (Ryan Shanley 73), Adam Foley.
Subs: Luke McNicholas, Niall McGinley, Ryan Rainey, Tuzde Olowabi, Karl O’Sullivan.
Bookings: Mark Coyle 51, Ethan Boyle 56
Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin)
Extratime Player of the Match: Joe Gorman (Longford Town)
