Longford Town lose again as Galway click into top gear in the second half

Galway United . . . 4   Longford Town . . . 0 

The First Division league leaders clicked into top gear in the second half as a brace from David Hurley and other goals from Rob Slevin and Conor O’Keeffe sealed the win for John Caulfield’s charges.

The runaway league leaders dominated the first half but the Town back five kept them at bay with a resolute display. The visitors tried to catch Galway on the break and despite wave after wave of Galway attacks, the Town nearly took the lead on seventeen minutes with a rare foray into the Galway half.

Cristian Magerusan received the ball on the right, held off two Galway challenges, raced into the box and fired a low shot from a tight angle that forced a good save from the Tribesmen’s keeper Brendan Clarke.

Three minutes later, the home side should have found the Longford net. Hurley’s corner was headed onto his own crossbar by Town centre-back Aaron Walsh, the ball came out to Galway striker Stephen Walsh just six yards out from goal, but his shot produced a magnificent save from Town keeper Jack Brady.

Town centre-back Viktor Serdeniuk came to his side’s rescue on twenty-three minutes with a superb sliding tackle to dispossess Galway substitute Francely Lomboto who looked to be clean through on goal.

In the thirty-fourth minute, a McCormack corner from the left landed at the feet of Vincent Borden, but the attacking midfielder could not add to his eight goals this season as his goal bound shot was brilliantly blocked by Town defender Aaron Walsh.

Three minutes later, more brilliant defending from Walsh kept Galway at bay, this time he superbly blocked a shot from United full-back, Regan Donelon.

Lomboto then fired narrowly wide of the Longford goal with a sixteen-yard effort after great work from Maurice Nugent and Conor O’Keeffe, and on forty-two minutes, Galway came close again when Hurley’s cross was chested down by Walsh, whose shot on the turn flashed inches wide of the Town post.

Galway wrapped up the three points within eight minutes of the resumption, as they rattled the Town net twice. 

As the clock ticked into the forty-eighth minute, a Slevin ball picked out Hurley twenty-two yards out, and United’s top-scorer fired in his eleventh goal of the season with a low, crisp shot that nestled into the bottom corner of the Town net.

On fifty-three minutes, Galway increased their lead when Slevin headed home a McCormack free kick from close range despite Town keeper Brady getting a hand  on the ball.

Sandwiched between the two goals, the home side had another opportunity, only for Stephen Walsh to shoot wide from Donelon’s low cross.

Longford had a chance on the hour mark to pull a goal back but Joshua Giurgi’s strike just inside the Galway box on the right sailed over the United bar.

Town  keeper Brady produced a world class save a minute later to prevent a third Galway goal. A Donelon cross picked out striker Walsh, but his close-range shot was stunningly saved by Brady.

The rampant home side almost made it three-nil on seventy-three minutes when O’Keeffe’s header from a McCormack corner came crashing back off the Town crossbar.

The Tribesmen added a third on seventy-five minutes as O’Keeffe scored his first ever goal for Galway when his glancing header flew into the visitors’ net.

Galway rounded up the scoring with a fourth goal on eighty-two minutes. Substitute Ronan Manning was tripped inside the box by Town defender Gavin O’Brien, and up stepped Hurley to send Brady the wrong way from the penalty spot.

It should have been five deep into injury time as McCarthy squared the ball across to Manning whose fifteen-yard shot was superbly saved by Brady, and substitute Rob Manley (the former Longford Town striker) blazed the rebound over the bar.

GALWAY UNITED (4-1-3-1-1): Clarke, O’Keeffe, Nugent, Slevin, Donelon, McCormack, Clarke, Borden, McCarthy, Hurley, Walsh.

Subs:- Lomboto for Clarke (19 mins), Brouder for Borden (57 mins), Manley for Walsh, Manning for McCormack, O’Reilly for Donelon (all 79 mins).

LONGFORD TOWN: (5-4-1): Brady, O’Brien, Serdeniuk, Walsh, Byrne, Farrell, Giurgi, Armstrong, Hodanu, Ibrahim, Magerusan.

Subs:- Doona for Armstrong, Priosti for Farrell (both 58 mins), James for Walsh (84 mins), Adejumobi for O’Brien and Ikharo for Magerusan (both 90 mins).