First Division round-up: Longford Town strike late to claim draw as champions Galway United see off Treaty United

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Longford Town scored two late second-half goals to all but end Bray Wanderers’ slim play-off hopes at Bishopsgate on Saturday.

Ian Ryan’s Seagulls raced into a deserved 2-0 lead in the Midlands with Darren Craven netting a brace against his former club.

His first arrived in the 18th minute before he doubled his tally just eight minutes later.

But Stephen Henderson’s Longford rallied in the closing stages of the second period and grabbed a remarkable point.

Former Drogheda United youth Francis Campbell halved the deficit in the 78th minute before Dylan Hand struck with a late header to level it in the 97th minute.

The former Warrenpoint Town defender got his head on a Gary Armstrong cross into the penalty area to break Bray hearts.

And that means the Seagulls must hope for an eight-goal and three points swing next weekend in their late bid to overtake Athlone Town in the play-off race.

But Athlone head into the final weekend after losing 4-1 away to Finn Harps.

Dario Castelo’s side have now lost their last four games in a row - with Treaty United just two points behind them with a game to play.



And they fell behind against strugglers Harps early on when Tony McNamee struck. Jamie Watson scored an own-goal soon after to level it but Harps kicked on again.

The impressive Ryan Flood scored a hat-trick in the second half to seal the deal - and ensure that Athlone’s woes dragged on for another week.

And they could have been overtaken in the table by Treaty if it was not for their 4-1 loss at home to Galway United. They remain two points behind Athlone.

The Tribesmen have now moved to 91 points in the table and have lost just twice in the league this season following their latest success at the Market’s Field.

Ed McCarthy opened the scoring for the Corribsiders before Stephen Walsh doubled their advantage seven minutes before the half-time interval.

Mark Walsh scored for Tommy Barrett’s side on the hour mark to make it 2-1 but Galway eventually got back on track to score two further goals via Francely Lomboto and Wassim Aouachria.

They are now 25 points clear of Waterford who drew 1-1 away to Kerry.

Leo Gaxha gave the Kingdom a shock Munster derby lead before Ronan Coughlan levelled it shortly after in the second half.

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