Kerry FC score late winner to leave Longford Town adrift in bottom spot

Kerry FC . . . 2    Longford Town . . . 1

Longford Town suffered another defeat in the SSE Airtricity League with fellow strugglers Kerry FC scoring a late winner at Mounthawk Park in Tralee on Thursday night last week.  

A superb strike from Ryan Kelliher in the 84th minute settled the issue to leave Longford five points adrift at the bottom of the First Division table going into the mid-season break.

The Town are after going through a very difficult period on the road down south with the four consecutive away fixtures against Treaty United (Limerick), Wexford FC, Cork City and Kerry FC yielding just a solitary point.

The draw came at Ferrycarrig Park when the midlanders let a late 2-0 lead slip from their grasp against Wexford and the new manager Wayne Groves will be hoping for a change of luck in their next league game against Finn Harps at Bishopsgate on Friday June 28th.

After strengthening their squad this season, Kerry FC have clearly improved and are a tough nut to crack at Mounthawk Park.

The home side broke the deadlock against Longford in the 27th minute, the end result of a well-worked move with Kelliher getting the vital touch to finish the ball to the net. 

Kerry FC almost doubled their advantage soon after when a shot from Ronan Teehan was brilliantly saved by Town keeper Jack Brady.

Badly hit by a spate of injuries, Longford gradually began to make their presence felt and after the Kerry reserve keeper Aaron O’Sullivan (replacing the regular No 1 Antonio Tuta) made a good save from Conor Crowley the equaliser materialised in the 44th minute.   

A corner from Crowley connected with Karl Chambers who directed a header on target but Longford had a very lucky escape in the early stages of the second half as a Nathan Gleeson shot hit the post in the 51st minute. 

Gleeson pounced on the rebound, only to be denied the lead goal for Kerry following a great block by Town defender Dean O’Shea, 

 Longford went close to taking the lead in the 75th minute when a vital stop by the Kerry keeper O’Sullivan prevented Jordan Adeyemo from scoring after a Dean O’Shea free-kick was deflected into the path of the Town striker from a few yards out. 

Then came the matchwinning goal after Sean McGrath, who was a constant threat up front for the home side, unlocked the Town defence with a perfect pass that picked out Ryan Kelliher who planted a powerful volley into the roof of the net. 

This was a cruel blow for the visitors who forced a couple of corners in a frantic finish but a second equaliser failed to materialise as Kerry stuck it out to collect all three points.

A third goal for the home side should have materialised with time almost up when McGrath was through with only Jack Brady to beat but the competent Longford keeper produced a point-blank save.    

KERRY FC: A O’Sullivan; K Williams, A Spain, E Kos, S O’Connell; N Gleeson (V Udeze 62 mins), D McCarthy, R Teahan, C Brosnan (S Aladesanusi 62 mins), S McGrath, R Kelliher.  

LONGFORD TOWN: Jack Brady; Mohammed Boudiaf, Jordan Tallon, Dean O’Shea, Kyle O’Connor; Guilherme Rego Priosti (Emmanuel James 65 mins), Bastien Hery, Conor Crowley, Karl Chambers; Jordan Adeyemo, Francis Campbell. 

Referee: A O’Dowd (Dublin).