- Deniese O'Flaherty
- Sat, May 03 2008
Longford Town claimed the bragging rights in this midlands derby after a deserved 3-0 win over rivals Athlone Town.This win moves Aaron Callaghan’s side up to fifth in the table two points behind Sporting Fingal, their opposition next Friday night, while Athlone Town remain second from bottom.
After an absence of eight years, the first midlands derby attracted a reasonable sized crowd to Flancare Park with plenty of familiar faces on show for both sets of supporters. The home side included past Athlone Town players; Ronan Frawley, Ryan Casey, Luke Hardy, Gary Murphy and Iarfhlaith Davoren in their starting line-up with Damien Rushe making an appearance as substitute in the second half. Athlone had former Longford Town crowd favourite Eric Lavine in their starting eleven. Davy Byrne missed out on a return to Flancare Park through suspension.
The game was over as a contest for the visitors after only 13 minutes when deflected efforts from Luke Hardy and Brian Kelly put the home side 2-0 up and in control of the game.
Just over one minute had gone in the game when the home side broke the deadlock. A shot from former Athlone player Luke Hardy was deflected into the net by an Athlone defender. Their next attempt also yielded a goal. Winger Brian Kelly did all the work and his effort took a deflection off Colm Jinks and into the net.
Athlone were completely shocked and the only thing they could offer in the opening 20 minutes was a free-kick from Philly Reilly that went over.
The home side seemed to settle on their two goal cushion and it wasn’t until the stroke of half-time that they had their next chance on goal. Kelly went through on goals he played the ball to Alan Lynch but his weak shot failed to trouble the Athlone defence.
Although Athlone Town started the opening minutes of the second half brightly, they created nothing that could trouble Longford keeper Neil Gallagher.
In fact the first chance after the restart came from the home side with Luke Hardy’s header being cleared off the line by Athlone's Colm Jinks in the 53rd minute. Two minutes later Hardy was on hand at the other end to deny Jinks and clear the danger out for a corner.
Darren McKenna made a welcome return from injury for Longford and he made a massive impact in the final 25 minutes of the game. Two minutes after his introduction he had a glorious chance to extend the home side’s lead but unfortunately for him he dragged his shot wide.
In the final ten minutes the home side had two great efforts on goal. In the 82nd minute Ronan Frawley headed agonisingly wide from a Daire Doyle free-kick while a minute later Iarfhlaith Davoren was guilty of a woeful miss. Damien Rushe did the running, he played the ball into the path of McKenna, his shot was saved by Athlone keeper Jinks and it fell to Davoren and he smashed his shot against the post. The Longford pressure paid off one minute from normal time and this time Davoren didn’t miss after receiving the ball from McKenna he slipped the ball past Jinks.
Longford Town: Neil Gallagher; Ryan O’Donnell, Ronan Frawley, Andy Bermingham, Ryan Casey (Dean Barrett 89); Gary Murphy, Luke Hardy, Daire Doyle, Iarfhlaith Davoren; Brian Kelly (Darren McKenna 61), Alan Lynch (Damien Rushe 80).
Subs not used: Alan O’Riordan, Stephen Brennan.
Athlone Town: Anthony Jinks; Robbie Hamm (Des Hope 46), Philly Reilly, Nigel Keady, Jim Sheridan; Ian Rossiter, Carmine Russo, Colm Jinks, Jason McCartney (Noel McGee 56); Eric Lavine, Dave O’Dowd (Padraig Moran 75).
Subs not used: Lee Gaffey, Anthony Hayes.
Booked: Hamm, Hope, C Jinks, Sheridan, Reilly.
Referee: Stephen Grant (Wexford).
Attendance: 800 (estimate).
