Longford Town 1 - 4 Monaghan United

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, Aug 30 2009


Four second half goals helped Monaghan United extend their unbeaten run to six games but the defeat sees Longford Town drop down to 11th position in the table after Mervue's surprise win over Athlone Town.

Goals were guaranteed in this fixture. The two previous games between these sides this season had produced 8 goals. In the opening game of the season there was six goals scored in a thrilling 3-3 draw. Tonight there was five.

Both sides came into this game in good form. Town picked up two wins on the road in their last two games, in the FAI Cup and in Limerick while Mons had gone five games unbeaten and also without conceding.

Town boss Gareth Cronin made just one change to the side that won 4-1 away to Limerick last weekend. Brian McCarthy returned from suspension to partner Kevin Cronin in the heart of the Town defence. While Monaghan were unchanged from the team that drew 0-0 with St Pat's two weeks ago in the FAI Cup.

It was of no real surprise that there was an extremely disappointing crowd at Flancare Park for the game. The fixture clashed with the semi-final of the Longford Senior Football Championship.

In a rather uneventful first half it was the visitors who enjoyed the majority of possession. But for all their dominance they failed to bring a save out of Town netminder Danny O'Leary.

Barry Clancy had a good effort in the 11th minute but he curled his shot from the edge of the box wide of the far post. In the 34th minute Cathal O'Connor found the head of Brian Gartland but his effort was also off target.

After a rather lacklustre display in first half from the home side began to get more into the game after the break. They created a good chance in the 51st minute; Stephen Gough did well to win possession in the middle of the park, he played a lovely pass out wide to Adrian Murphy but he failed to send a decent ball into the box with Tom King in a great position.

Four minutes later and Neal McKenna set up another attack for the Town; he played the ball down the wing to Liam Lynch but amazingly the Ballinasloe lad was flagged for offside.

The visitors had a great chance to open the scoring in the 59th minute; Cathal O'Connor found Karl Bermingham in the box but the striker somehow blasted his shot wide. That was to be a warning for the home side because one mintue later the deadlock was finally broken.

Barry Clancy picked the ball up on the edge of the box and his powerful shot went in, albeit with a little help from the underside of the crossbar. Town manager Gareth Cronin decided to ring the chances and introduced strikers Darren McKenna and Derek Glynn in a hope that his side could get something out of this game.

But the home side found themselves 2-0 down in the 76th minute when Karl Bermingham got to the end of Clancy's cross. It was to get worse for the home side four minutes later; Darragh Hanaphy was just on the pitch one minute when he headed home Mons third of the evening from a corner.

Darren McKenna has a habit of scoring against his former clubs and he pulled a goal back for the Town five mintues from time. Could Longford score three in a three mintue spell just like they did in the first game of the season? Unfortunately for the home side the next goal came from the visitors; Cathal O'Connor restoring Mons 3 goal advantage in the 87th minute firing home from the edge of the box.

Longford Town: Danny O'Leary, Jordan McMillan, Brian McCarthy, Kevin Cronin, Jason McCartney, Adrian Murphy, Stephen Gough, Gary Curran, Neal McKenna, Tom King, Liam Lynch.

Subs used: Michael Foley for N McKenna 56mins, Darren McKenna for Lynch 65mins and Derek Glynn for Murphy 65mins Not used: Aaron Shanahan, Ray Kenny.

Monaghan Utd: Aaron McCarey, Paul Whelan, Shane Grimes, Aidan Lynch, Brian Gartland, Dom Tierney, Cathal O'Connor, Alan Byrne, Karl Bermingham, Dave Freeman, Barry Clancy.

Subs used: Darragh Hanaphy for Freeman 79mins and Stephen McCrossan for Bermingham 86mins Not used: Stefan McKevitt, Conor McMahon, Ronan McGann

Referee: Darren Coombes (Dublin)

Attendance: 200 approx