Longford Town 1 - 0 Limerick FC

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, May 30 2010


Craig Mooney was the hero as Longford Town left it late to beat third place Limerick 1-0 in Flancare Park on Saturday night.

As the clock ticked into the final two minutes of the game it looked as if the Town would hold on for a valuable point against an in-form Limerick side but Mooney had other ideas.

Mark Salmon flicked the ball into the path of his midfield partner and he made no mistake slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

To compound Limerick’s woes Jeffrey Judge and Jason Hughes were both shown straight red cards by referee Phil Caschera following an altercation between the two after Mooney’s goal.

It definitely was a game of two halves. Limerick were the better team in the first half but the Town were resilient. In the second half the Town took the game to their opponents and in the end deserved their win.

In an open first half the Town had their first chance in the 8th minute; Cathal Brady did very well to get to the endline, he played a lovely ball into the box, the clearance fell to Craig Mooney but he was just off target.

Three minutes later Lims had a chance; John Tierney got past Philly Byrne but Town keeper Aaron Shanahan was quick off his line to clear the danger, the ball fell to Tierney again but he shot straight at Shanahan. In the 22nd minute Mooney should’ve found the net for the Town but his effort was just inches wide.

On the counter attack Lims broke up the field but Robbie Kelliher dragged his shot just wide of the far post. The visitors’ best chance of the half fell to Kelliher in the 26th minute but Shanahan pulled off a superb save to deny the striker and Chris Deans cleared for a corner.

Deans was nearly caught out in the 38th minute when Tierney pounced on the defender’s header back to Shanahan but lucky for the Town the netminder was off his line and able to fist the ball away.

Three minutes after the restart Limerick had two great chances in quick succession to open the scoring. First Pat Purcell’s powerful header came off the crossbar, the rebound fell to Tierney but Shanahan was on hand to pull off a fantastic save.

The Town were handed a great opportunity to break the deadlock in the 51st minute when Purcell brought Peter Hynes down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped John Lester but he blasted his spot-kick wide.

The Town were now in the ascendency and seven minutes later Thomas Hyland’s looping header was expertly tipped over by Lims keeper Dave Ryan. Ryan was called into action on the hour mark producing a point blank save to deny Mark Salmon.

Cathal Brady and Peter Hynes both had chances for the Town but their efforts failed to trouble Ryan. Brady had terrific chance to score three minutes from time, holding off the challenge of two Lims defenders the winger should’ve done better with his effort.

The Town were to find the back of the net two minutes later with Mooney grabbing his first goal for the club and claiming all three points for his side.

Longford Town: Aaron Shanahan, Chris Deans, Philip Byrne (Victor Ekanem 72), Mike Lee, Cathal Brady, Mark Salmon, Thomas Hyland, Craig Mooney, Dave Freeman, Peter Hynes (Fiachra McArdle 77), Dave Freeman.
Subs not used: Derek Glynn, Gary Cronin, Simon Kelly.

Limerick: Dave Ryan, Sean Kelly, Peter White, Pat Purcell, Martin Deady (Gavin Roche 48), Shane Tracy (Jason Hughes 36), Thomas Lyons, Jeffrey Judge, Stephen Hickey, Robbie Kelleher (Peter Balough 59), John Tierney.
Subs not used: Declan Cahill, John McGuinness (GK)
Referee: Phill Caschera (Dublin)