Shanahan thrilled with penalty heroics
Credit:
It has been a long time coming but Longford Town goalkeeper Aaron
Shanahan was delighted with the timing of his first penalty save at
senior level in the FAI Cup against Waterford United on Friday night.
With the Town leading by John Lester’s 12th minute penalty, Waterford were handed an opportunity to get back on level terms in the 74th minute when Thomas Hyland was penalised for bundling down Liam Kearney in the box.
Kearney dusted himself down to take the spot-kick but Shanahan judged the kick superbly, diving to his left to make the save.
The Town netminder was very happy with his judgement. “I’m delighted I guessed right. I haven’t really done my homework on penalties; it’s just that lefties always go across your body. That’s my first save at senior level. I’ve been trying to think back and I don’t think I have saved one before,” he told Extratime.
Shanahan was delighted to make the headlines for the right reasons, unlike his opposing number one, Chris Konopka. The Blues keeper only lasted nine minutes on the pitch after getting sent off for bringing Mark Salmon down in the box. Town were awarded a penalty which Lester duly dispatched.
The Longford keeper believed it was the right decision by referee Paul Tuite. “He was the last man and it was a brave decision from the referee. I was actually impressed that he gave it; fair play to him in that respect. It was definitely a penalty and he was last man so he had to go,” Shanahan said.
Such was the home side’s dominance inside the opening hour of this game Shanahan wasn’t forced into making a save until the 59th minute. But he was kept on his toes after that.
““The second half really was end to end,” he said. “When they went down to ten men they seem to want it a little bit more. They really upped their work-rate. I didn’t have one save to make in the first half bar the penalty.”
After a somewhat disappointing start to the season the Town have shown in their last two games just what they are capable of. For the first time this season they recorded back-to-back victories and also two clean-sheets.
Shanahan admitted that they have working hard of late to try and right the wrongs. “We have been working hard to rectify a few things. After the Finn Harps game we took a look at ourselves and knew we had to react. A few things had to change; there is nothing wrong with the players, it’s just that things had to change,” said the Meath man.
With the Town leading by John Lester’s 12th minute penalty, Waterford were handed an opportunity to get back on level terms in the 74th minute when Thomas Hyland was penalised for bundling down Liam Kearney in the box.
Kearney dusted himself down to take the spot-kick but Shanahan judged the kick superbly, diving to his left to make the save.
The Town netminder was very happy with his judgement. “I’m delighted I guessed right. I haven’t really done my homework on penalties; it’s just that lefties always go across your body. That’s my first save at senior level. I’ve been trying to think back and I don’t think I have saved one before,” he told Extratime.
Shanahan was delighted to make the headlines for the right reasons, unlike his opposing number one, Chris Konopka. The Blues keeper only lasted nine minutes on the pitch after getting sent off for bringing Mark Salmon down in the box. Town were awarded a penalty which Lester duly dispatched.
The Longford keeper believed it was the right decision by referee Paul Tuite. “He was the last man and it was a brave decision from the referee. I was actually impressed that he gave it; fair play to him in that respect. It was definitely a penalty and he was last man so he had to go,” Shanahan said.
Such was the home side’s dominance inside the opening hour of this game Shanahan wasn’t forced into making a save until the 59th minute. But he was kept on his toes after that.
““The second half really was end to end,” he said. “When they went down to ten men they seem to want it a little bit more. They really upped their work-rate. I didn’t have one save to make in the first half bar the penalty.”
After a somewhat disappointing start to the season the Town have shown in their last two games just what they are capable of. For the first time this season they recorded back-to-back victories and also two clean-sheets.
Shanahan admitted that they have working hard of late to try and right the wrongs. “We have been working hard to rectify a few things. After the Finn Harps game we took a look at ourselves and knew we had to react. A few things had to change; there is nothing wrong with the players, it’s just that things had to change,” said the Meath man.
