Longford Town 2 - 2 Salthill Devon

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, Aug 08 2010


Longford Town blew the opportunity of moving up a place in the table when they were held to a draw by bottom side Salthill Devon at Flancare Park on Saturday night.

The two points dropped proved costly for the Town. With Finn Harps beating the other Galway side Mervue Utd it meant the Town slip back down into 9th position in the table and host Finn Harps next Friday night.

Town bossed possession in the early stages and five minutes in should’ve broken the deadlock when they were awarded a penalty after a handball in the box. John Lester stepped up to take the spot-kick but he lifted his effort too high and Salthill keeper Ronan Forde pulled off a fine save. It was Lester’s third penalty miss of the season.

Forde came to his side’s rescue three minutes later to deny Peter Hynes with a point blank save. Cathal Brady did well to break down the wing, he pulled the ball back to Lee Roche who whipped in an excellent ball into the box which Hynes got a header to but Forde did very well to save from close range.

It was all Town at this stage as they pressed hard to break down the Salthill rearguard but in the 29th minute, totally against the run of play they found themselves behind. Cian McBrien played in Victor Collins and he calmly shot past the advancing Town keeper Aaron Shanahan. It stunned the home support and in some ways spurred on the visitors because after that they enjoyed a good spell of pressure. Mike Quirke curled in a free three minutes from the break but Collins headed straight at Shanahan.

Town manager Tony Cousins must’ve been wishing half-time to come around so he could get his players into the dressing room. He decided to make changes during the break; Dave Freeman made his long awaited return from injury coming on in place of the ineffective Hynes.

Town made the perfect start to the second half and two minutes in were back on level terms. Jason Oladele grabbing his second goal in two games after Mike Lee’s cross was knocked back by Lee Roche and the winger made no mistake.

Two had a chance to take the lead two minutes later. Aidan Roche did well to cut inside but his low drive from just inside the box was saved by Forde. Although it was all the home side at this stage the visitors created a chance in the 54th minute but Shanahan saved from James Whelan.

Town’s pressure paid off just before the hour mark when they took the lead when Lee’s cross from the left was finished to the net by Oldaele. Despite dominating proceedings and creating chances the Town just couldn’t get the third goal to kill the game off.

10 minutes from time it looked as if they had got goal number three. Oladele broke down the wing and crossed for Lee Roche at the far post to shoot home but to the dismay of the Town players and supporters it was disallowed for offside.

That was a turning point in the game because 60 seconds later, and after being outplayed for the majority of the game, the visitors found themselves back on level terms when substitute Mike Kennedy grabbed an equaliser. With nine minutes to play plus injury time there was still time for the Town to try and claim all three points but Salthill stood firm and held on for an undeserved point.

Longford Town: Aaron Shanahan, Niall O’Reilly, Chris Deans, John Lester, Mike Lee, Cathal Brady (Jason Oladele 27), Victor Ekanem, Mark Salmon, Aidan Roche (Craig Walsh 85), Peter Hynes (Dave Freeman ht), Lee Roche.
Subs not used: Kevin Cronin, Stephen Conlon.

Salthill Devon: Ronan Forde, James Whelan, Gearoid O’Leidhinn, Brian Geraghty, Dragos Barbu (Paddy Quinlan 90), Mike Quirke (Luke McConnell 70), Ciprain Straut, Robbie Porter, Victor Collins, Cian McBrien (Mike Kennedy 79), Mikey Gilmore.
Subs not used: Marcin Marienek, Martin Mannion.

Referee: Conor Fitzgerald
Attendance: 170
Extratime Man of the Match: Jason Oldadele