Monaghan United -v- Longford Town

• Andrew Cunneen
• Thu, Sep 22 2011




 

Longford Town make their way north to face Monaghan United in what should be a highly competitive First Division encounter at Gortakeegan on Friday night. (Kick-off, 8pm)

 

While the visitors have very little left to play for, the home side will need to step up a gear if they want to catch Shelbourne at the summit of the First Division. With Limerick snatching a win in Tolka Park last week, a win for Monaghan could really ignite the title race once more.

 

Roddy Collins’ men will be rightly up for this and, on paper at least, they should win. Unfortunately for the Monaghan faithful, no match is won on paper. Monaghan have won all five of their most recent fixtures in the First Division albeit that one of the wins were handed to them by the FAI following a scoreless draw against Finn Harps who were subsequently found guilty of fielding an ineligible player.

 

Longford are not the force they were at the start of the season. Their star man, Don Cowan, has gone across the Irish Sea to Stevenage Borough, leaving them with a lack of firepower in front of goal. Their last few results have not been overly impressive, with their last win arriving over a month ago.

 

Last weekend, their midlands derby clash with Athlone Town ended in a 2-0 defeat and Tony Cousins will have to get a lot more from his players if they are to compete with a very solid Monaghan team.

 

The sides have met twice already in the league this season. Monaghan left Flancare Park with all three points thanks to a 3-1 win back in June while the first clash between the two sides took place back in April, Monaghan winning that one by a single goal to nil.

 

A win for Monaghan will see them pile the pressure onto Shels, but perhaps more importantly, will put a gap between them and the chasing duo of Limerick and Cork. A good game is expected.

 

Monaghan United

Injured: Conor McMahon.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

 

Longford Town

Injured: Niall O’Reilly.

Doubtful: Alvin Rouse, Austin Skelly.

Suspended: Chris Deans, Paul Hunt.

 

Referee: Phil Caschera.

Paddy Power Odds: Monaghan 4/11 Draw - 10/3, Longford 13/2

Extratime prediction: Monaghan 2-1 Longford.