Longford Town at home to Treaty United on Saturday night

The First Division champions and runaway leaders Galway United only had two defeats to date, ironically both against Longford Town at Bishopsgate.

 Since our last victory over Galway we have hit a bad run and after last Monday's loss to Wexford we will need a miracle if we are to catch Athlone or Wexford for a place in the promotion play-offs.

 After the late appointment of Stephen Henderson as manager and losing up to 20 of last year's panel it was always going to be an uphill battle this season. 

There is no doubt that the manager has brought in some exciting players but the lack of pre-season time has affected the form of this new look team. 

With that in mind one would suggest that the club start putting a squad together now for the 2024 season. The current squad have some very good players and with some additions we could be challenging for promotion next season especially when we will be celebrating 100 years in football. 

This club need to be in the Premier Division and also challenging for honours in the FAI Cup. Supporters remember the exciting times in Cup finals and trips to Europe. Our supporters were spoiled over the years but one has to say that they made this club. 

We have four games remaining this season and we play Treaty United at Bishopsgate on Saturday night (kick-off 7.30pm) and we are ahead of them in the table on goal difference. 

When looking at our record against the Limerick side  this season they are ahead of us with two wins and we have only one victory to date.

 There were a couple of 3-2 results, one for each club. The first meeting was at the Markets Field in early April. Treaty's three goals came from Molloy, Edogun and George while Campbell and Giurgi scored for the Town. 

The next fixture was in Bishopsgate in mid May and Treaty won 3-0. Enda Curran scored two goals in that game and Stephen Christopher scored the third. Jack Brady saw red in that game when he was sent-off in the 62nd minute, a dismissal that was orchestrated by a Treaty player. 

The third game between the clubs was played in Limerick in early August and the Town won 3-2. Gary Armstrong and two goals from Cristian Magerusan were the Town scorers while on target for the home side were Lennon and George.

 On that night the Town ended with 10 men as Aaron Walsh saw red in the 78th minute. 

After two defeats against Treaty this season, the Town will be looking for a morale boosting victory going into the final three games of the season.

 It would take a miracle to catch up with Athlone but there is a thing called pride and we hope that we see that in abundance on Saturday night next against Treaty United.  

Remember we beat Galway twice this season and they have won the First Division title in gaining promotion and are in the FAI Cup semi-final.

So it's up to everybody to show that this team is capable of beating any team in the league. Admittedly we are down some very good players for different reasons, some injured and some suspended. 

After this weekend's game we have Bray at Bishopsgate  along with a trip to Cobh and the midlands derby away against Athlone on the final day of the season.

 SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town v Treaty United 

at Bishopsgate

Saturday September 30

Kick-off 7.30pm