Longford Town 4 - 2 Mervue United

After suffering their first league defeat of the season last weekend Longford Town got back to winning ways against bottom side Mervue Utd in Flancare Park on Saturday night.

This game was basically over as a contest at half-time with Longford 4-0 up but credit to Mervue they gave them a game after the break and pulled back two goals.

Town scored all their goals inside the opening 25 minutes. They were clinical and played some lovely football. Mervue just simply had no answer for them. In the second half Town took their feet off the gas a little but it was to be expected.

The supporters had barely sat in their seats when they had the first bit of action; Mervue defender Kenny Farrell took down Karl Bermingham in the box and a penalty was awarded. The defender hurt himself and had to be stretchered off. The game was held up for four minutes and when play resumed Mark Salmon stepped up to coolly slot the spot-kick home.

Minutes later Alan Kirby had a chance but his shot was caught on the line by Ronan Forde. Alan Murphy then had two chances in quick succession from frees but Longford dealt with them.

In the 16th minute the Town doubled their advantage; Gary Shaw made a fantastic break and laid the ball off to Colm James who found the back of the net from about 20 yards out with a powerful strike. Minutes later Bermingham did well to block down Mike Elwood’s clearance but the ball bounced wide.

Longford made it 3-0 in the 24th minute; Keith Gillespie’s pinpoint corner from the left met the head of Chris Deans at the far post. One minute later and Town found the net Mervue again; Shaw the provider again, this time for Kirby to make it 4-0.

It was an action-packed opening half hour and the Town were ruthless. Supporters were expecting more goals while Mervue were just stunned. Murphy had another effort from a free in the 38th minute but he was unlucky not to found the target. Apart from those chances from Murphy Mervue didn’t offer anything up front and didn’t look like scoring;

they certainly improved in the second-half.

With nothing but pride to play for Mervue played very well after the break. Longford were content to sit back and at times were sluggish in possession. The home side have kept just one clean-sheet this season, against Mervue in the opening game, but they weren’t to repeat that because in the 62nd minute the Galway side pulled a goal back; Murphy’s corner from the left was headed home by Pat Hoban.

The goal gave Mervue a lift and five minutes later Alex Lee’s effort from a tight angle just went inches wide. They very nearly got a second goal in the 70th minute when Paul Hunt’s poor clearance fell to Shane Keogh. With the keeper out of his area the sub tried his luck

but his effort went wide.

Mervue kept pressing for another goal and in the 78th minute they got their second of the game; Deans bundled over Michael McSweeney in the box and Hoban dispatched the penalty. It was all Mervue at this stage as Longford struggled to gain possession but the hard work had been done in the first-half.

Longford Town: Paul Hunt; Noel Haverty, Des Hope (Jeff Flood 58), Chris Deans, Thomas Crawley; Colm James, Keith Gillespie, Mark Salmon, Alan Kirby; Karl Bermingham (Jamie Duffy 83), Gary Shaw (Daniel Purdy, 46).

Subs not used: Conor Devlin, Michael Lee, Sean Skelly, Craig Walsh.

Bookings: Karl Bermingham (55), Colm James (61), Chris Deans (78).

Mervue Utd: Ronan Forde; Michael McSweeney, Mike Elwood, Damien O’Rourke, Kenny Farrell (Marc Ludden 4); Alex Lee, Noel Varley (Shane Keogh 58), Gary Kelly, Alan Murphy (Mike Collins 88), Etanda Nkololo; Pat Hoban.

Subs not used: Barry McEntee, Conor O’Malley.

Bookings: Ronan Forde (1).

Referee: Kevin O’Regan (Kerry).

Attendance: 250 (estimate).

extratime.ie Man of the Match: Keith Gillespie (Longford Town) – Another excellent display from the midfielder.