Longford Town away to Finn Harps and at home to Galway United

On Friday night Longford Town travel to Finn Harps (kick-off 8pm)  who were relegated last season and after a very shaky start they are up to 6th place in the table on 13 points which is a big improvement.

Harps, like the Town, are working with basically a new squad of players and like the Town they will take some time for them to blend in together as a team. 

Donegal is a hot bed of soccer and the support up there is really top class as they have kept soccer football in the north west on a very strong footing.

 At the end of last season when they were relegated the club and Ollie Horgan parted company and after a long search the board of Harps came up with a surprise selection when they announced former Shelbourne defender Dave Rogers as their full time manager and he is tied down to a lengthy contract. 

With a full time manager they have also gone full time with their squad and Dave has the backing of the board who are convinced that he will take them to the Premier Division but there is no doubt that this will take time. 

The Harps squad has an international look about it with a 28 year old German Tim-Oliver Hiemer playing in goal. One man who will be known from his many years in the League is centre half Keith Cowan who is in the twilight of his career. The 37 year old who rejoined the club this season from Drogheda United and he gives the young team mates the help of his huge experience in the league. 

Seamus Keogh is another player with lots of experience in the league with Sligo Rovers. 

There are a few loanees from England in their squad, two 19 year olds - defender Ellis Farrar and striker Daniel Okwute who are on loan from Stockport County. Noe Baba is a former Castlebar Celtic player who went to England to further his career and has recently returned to Finn Harps to help Rogers in his quest for promotion.

 Like the Town Harps have their problems in front of goal with Ryan Rainey their leading scorer at the moment and he is the penalty king for the club. 

When the teams played at Bishopsgate back on St Patrick's weekend Harps won 1-0  and the goal came from a very controversial penalty which was scored by Rainey. 

Harps' late penalty goal was enough to help them to three valuable points but as in most games this season the standard of refereeing is poor to say the least. 

As stated before the clubs are urged to up their standards on and off the pitch but the League/ FAI fall down when it comes to refereeing standards. 

The Town will be better prepared for the trip to Ballybofey on Friday  as the young team have got more games under their belts. 

League leaders Galway United come to Bishopsgate 

After the long journey to Donegal on Friday the Town are home on Bank holiday Monday against runaway leaders Galway United (kick-off 7.30pm) who come to Longford with a 100% return in their first 10 games. 

They play Cobh Ramblers at home on Friday next and one can expect them to win that game as winning is a habit and the fact that they have ten straight wins speaks volumes of their strong squad. 

In their recent games they have hammered Bray Wanderers 6-0 and last weekend they beat league new boys Kerry FC at home where the full house notices were up.

Kerry took a shock lead coming up to half-time with a goal from Ryan Kelliher on 40 mins but the visitors struck back in first half injury time when David Hurley scored.

The half-time team talk must have worked wonders for the Galway outfit and defender Stephen Walsh helped himself to two goals in the 50th and 70th minute while another defender Colm Horgan scored their other goal in the 57th minute. 

Galway controlled the game in the final twenty minutes to run out comfortable winners over a brave Kerry team who are doing well in their debut season and there is no doubt that they are a great addition to the League.

 Looking forward to Monday's visit of the very impressive Galway to Bishopsgate, their manager John Caulfield strengthened his team and squad with some very shrewd signings during the off season.

 The very experienced keeper Brendan Clarke  joined the club and has given them that extra stability at the back which is great for a team chasing promotion. 

The Galway defence is backboned by former Finn Harps player Rob Slevin who has settled in since joining the club and a former team mate Regan Donelon also joined their former manager Ollie Horgan who is with Caulfield as his assistant. 

The defence is a solid unit with Killian Brouder, Colm Horgan and Stephen Walsh forming a Premier Division defence. 

Midfield general Conor McCormack is a match winner who can mix it if required which is a big bonus from the player who played with many of the top Premier Division clubs. 

Such is the strength of the Galway squad that the subs bench last weekend against Kerry included two former Town players Darren Clarke and Rob Manley. Also on the  bench were Regan Donelon, French man Ibrahim Keita and the very impressive Ronan Manning.

When the teams met in Eamonn Deacy Park back at the end of March Galway had to rely on a deflected Clarkr goal to get all three points.

At this stage of the season with the first round of games completed Stephen Henderson must be getting the starting eleven he hopes to field as his strongest when the lengthy injury list starts to get shorter. 

Last Saturday night against Bray the Town fielded a team that was minus the injured Derek Daly, James Doona and Cristian Mageruson and they are the very experienced players in the squad. Add to them Aaron Walsh, Oisin Hand, Gavin O'Brien and reserve keeper Jack Harrington who will be out for the rest of the season. 

Central defender Aaron Walsh only made his league debut on Saturday but had to be replaced in the 28th minute. When you have a very young squad of players and lose seven players you are under pressure no matter what type of squad you have at your disposal.

 There is no doubt that the Town could and should have taken full points against Bray and if the team put in the same effort against Harps they could come away from Finn Park with a win. 

 This Town team may be very young and inexperienced but they don't lack confidence and with the backing of a big Bank Holiday crowd we could cause a massive upset by beating the runaway leaders Galway. We need Town supporters to come out in very big numbers for this attractive fixture.

 SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town v Galway United

at Bishopsgate on Monday May 1 

kick-off 7.30pm