Longford Town 0 - 4 Sporting Fingal

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, Oct 18 2009


A brace from Eamon Zayed helped Sporting Fingal close the gap on second placed Shelbourne to just one point thanks to a four-goal drubbing of Longford Town.

Zayed opened and finished the scoring for the visitors with former Longford defender Stephen Paisley and Gary O’Neill also getting on the scoresheet.

The gulf in class was evident in this game; between a side pushing for promotion and one struggling towards the bottom of the table. The home side did well towards the latter stages of the first half and should have at least been on level terms going in at the break. In the second half Fingal took a hold of the game and the Town struggled to get back into it.

It didn’t help Longford's cause that they had several key players missing for this game; influential defender Brian McCarthy was suspended, midfielder Michael Foley had flu while striker/winger Liam Lynch was involved in a car accident earlier in the day, thankfully nothing too serious.

Sporting Fingal started the game well and Zayed was given ample time and space by the home defence to open the scoring in the fourth minute.

In the 13th minute Jason McCartney did well to dispossess former Longford favourite Alan Kirby when in a good scoring position. The visitors were in control of proceedings and it should have been 2-0 in the 24th minute. O’Neill played a beautiful cross-field ball to Conan Byrne but his low shot came off the butt of the post.

Gareth Cronin's side's first effort on goal came in the 27th minute when Stephen Gough’s stinging shot brought an excellent save out of Fingal 'keeper Chris Konopka. This spurred the home side into life and they began to get more into the game.

Three minutes later they had a great chance to get back on level terms when Paisley pulled down Derek Glynn in the box. Darren McKenna stepped up to take the spot-kick but his tame effort was easily saved by Konopka.

McKenna had a chance in the 34th minute to redeem himself but his header cannoned off the crossbar and one minute later Konopka was on hand to deny Carmine Russo.

Just like the first, the visitors started the second half brightly and doubled their advantage in the 59th minute; Kirby’s cross from the right was headed goalbound by Paisley and unfortunately for Town’s Tom King, who was standing on the line, he sliced the ball to the roof of the net.

Byrne forced Aaron Shanahan into making two fine saves in the 71st and 76th minute as Fingal went in search of another goal. That third goal came just three minutes later when Gary O’Neil shot home from close range. The scoring was complete one minute from the end when Zayed grabbed his second of the night and his side’s fourth.

Longford Town: Aaron Shanahan, Carmine Russo, Ray Kenny, Kevin Cronin (Tom King, 46), Jordan McMillan, Jason McCartney, Stephen Gough, Neal McKenna (Michael Lee, 8), Gary Curran, Derek Glynn, Darren McKenna (Adrian Murphy, 62). Sub not used: Colm Jinks.

Sporting Fingal: Chris Konopka, Colm James, John Frost, Shaun Williams (Eric Foley, 77), Shaun Maher, Stephen Paisley, Conan Byrne (Robbie Doyle, 79), Eamon Zayed, Gary O’Neill, Alan Kirby (Lorcan Fitzgerald, 82), Shane McFaul.

Subs not used: Gareth Whelan, Darren Quigley.

Referee: Darren Coombes (Dublin)

Attendance: 150 approx.