Longford Town seeking the boost of a win at home to Finn Harps

After the two week mid-season break, Longford Town are back in action this Friday night when they welcome Finn Harps to Bishopsgate, kick-off 7.45pm.

The Town are struggling in the current First Division campaign but they can look forward to a much better second half of the season.

We can blame injuries, hard luck etc but most of these problems are problems for most clubs in the league. Looking back at the last game before the break against Kerry FC and on that occasion the Town had ten players out for various reasons. There is no doubt that injuries are the main reason for players being absent. 

Hopefully some players will become available for selection and we get on with the work of getting results and also getting off the bottom of the table. 

Such was the spate of injuries that the Town manager Wayne Groves wasn't able to field a full quota of substitutes ar Mounthawk Park

 It's hoped that Groves will have some of the long list of injured players back for selection and the team will start picking up points as we strive to achieve some positive results.

Since our last competitive game the club had a big celebrity game at Bishopsgate when a Town Legends selection took on the Manchester United Legends and one has to be pleasantly surprised by the standard of the play in the game. Supporters will remember some exciting players who came back for these celebrations.

At the last competitive league game against Kerry and looking at the legends friendly one would have to say that many of our former players looked good enough to be still playing in the First Division. 

Former striker Davy O'Sullivan has lost none of his dash and sharpness in attack with two goals to his credit and most people present at the game agreed that he would be good enough still to be in the Town squad for the rest of the season. 

Gary Shaw also showed that he is still fit enough for the First Division. 

Two local cup heroes Sean Prunty and Alan Kirby showed some class passes and they also could be a help to the manager as he chases results and tries to get out of the dreaded bottom spot that we currently occupy. 

The July transfer window will open next week and we hope that the manager will strengthen our squad. 

Admittedly, Wayne is in a situation where he is working with another manager's squad and there might not be a lot of players available at this stage. 

Lack of consistency and absenteeism is killing the club and we all can rectify this very soon. 

You couldn't get a much tougher game for the second half of the season than the visit of Finn Harps who have always been so hard to beat. 

Ollie Horgan may be gone to Galway United but the new man Darren Murphy has shaped his squad into a team who will be challenging for promotion. 

The club made some very shrewd signings with the experienced Tony McNamee and David Cawley giving their young squad the experience needed to make his team promotion contenders. 

Striker Success Edogun has the nose for goals and he is hitting the net on a regular basis and he is a tough player to handle. 

Noe Baba is a very experienced defender and he, like McNamee and Cawley can give his younger teammates the value of his experience. 

The teams played each other twice this season and on both occasions Harps have won 3-2.

In the first meeting at Bishopsgate in the opening game of the 2024 season, Longford had a 2-0 lead after only 13 mins with Chris Lyons scoring both goals.

Success Edogun scored for the visitors just before the half hour mark. Centre half James Watson equalised for Harps on 67 mins and Mbuli scored the winner in injury time. 

The teams met again in May at Finn Park and goals on 3 mins from Johnston, McNamee 12 mins and Success 85 mins clinched the win.

Jordan Adeyemo 24 mins (penalty) and defender Dean O'Shea (33 mins) were the Town goalscorers.

 Harps seem to have a kind of Indian sign on us in recent seasons and let's hope that Wayne and the boys rectify the situation starting with this Friday's home game. 

Last season Harps won two and drew one and lost one game against us.

 The Town go into Friday's game with nothing really to lose but we need to show pride and go out and start winning games.

 Let's hope that we have a decent crowd for the match as the club need your support at this critical part of the season.

 SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town v Finn Harps 

At Bishopsgate

Friday June 28

kick off 7.45pm