- Deniese O'Flaherty
- Sun, Apr 22 2018
A brace from Georgie Kelly inflicted a first home defeat of the season on Longford Town and moved the Students back to the top of the First Division table.
Kelly put his side ahead in the 61st minute after playing a one two with Daire O’Connor and in the 77th minute he grabbed his 8th goal of the season when he finished Jason McClelland’s cross to the net.
In what was Town’s poorest performance of the season so far they offered very little throughout and lacked any real threat that would pose UCD problems. In the 90 plus minutes they brought just one decent save out of UCD keeper Conor Kearns.
The Students were full value for their win and could’ve won by more with Kelly having chances in the first half to open the scoring for his side. The first chance fell to him in the 5th minute but his shot was blocked down and deflected out for a corner by Town keeper Mick Kelly.
Kelly was to deny his namesake again in the 34th minute bringing off an excellent save from the UCD striker’s powerful shot. Five minutes from the break the Town netminder denied the Students again; this time Kelly was the provider for Daire O’Connor but his shot was saved by the feet of the Town keeper.
The second half started with nothing of note created by either side but just after the hour mark and out of nothing the visitors broke the deadlock. Gary O’Neill and Georgie Kelly played a one too before O’Neill found space to whip the ball into the box and Kelly finished from close range.
The goal stunned the home side for a bit and after failing to create any scoring opportunity their first and only proper chance of the game came in the 69th minute but Dean Byrne’s shot failed to trouble Kearns and he was able to get down to gather.
In the 77th minute the Students doubled their advantage and it was poor on the home side’s behalf with no one picking Jason McClelland up or charging down his cross into the box which was fired home by Kelly.
UCD could have got a third goal in the 80th minute but substitute Paul Doyle’s effort was tipped over by Mick Kelly.
The home side never looked like making any sort of a fightback in the final 10 minutes as they visitors held on for the win that sees them two points clear at the time. The Town are back in fourth seven points behind them.
Longford Town: Michael Kelly; Adam O’Connor (Dylan McGlade 65), Mick McDonnell, Daniel O’Reilly, Tristan Noack-Hofmann; Karl Chambers, Aodh Dervin, Dean Zambra (Sam Verdon 78), Evan Galvin (Darren Meenan 78) ; Dean Byrne, Chris Mulhall.
Subs: Jack Brady, Jamie Hollywood, Jackson Ryan, Darren Ridge
UCD: Conor Kearns; Daniel Tobin, Max Kouogun, Josh Collins, Liam Scales; Kevin Coffey (Yousef Mahdy 84), Gary O’Neill, Greg Sloggett, Jason McClelland; Daire O’Connor (Paul Doyle 78) Georgie Kelly (Ben Hanrahan 89).
Subs: Darragh Corcoran, Conor Crowley.
Referee: Alan Carey
Attendance: 472 (official)
Extratime man of the match: Georgie Kelly (UCD)
