Midlands derby misery as Longford Town crash to heavy defeat away to Athlone

Athlone Town . . . 4     Longford Town . . . 1 

Boosted by the brilliant win over Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds the previous week to coincide with the signing of a few new players in the July transfer window, it was a quick return to reality for Longford Town who crashed to a heavy defeat away to Athlone on Friday night last.  

Thus they remain bottom of the SSE Airtricity First Division after suffering this shattering setback at the Athlone Town Stadium with the home side cruising to a comprehensive win thanks to a dominant second half display.    

Two goals from man-of-the-match Noah Van Geenen with Aaron Connolly and Brian Torre also on target clinched all three points for impressive Athlone who crucially broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time.

The visitors started brightly, putting the Athlone defence under pressure winning three corners in the opening nine minutes of the contest, but Longford’s only attempt on goal during that period came in the 6th minute when a Daniel Norris shot from sixteen yards out was palmed around the post by Athlone keeper Lee Axworthy Duggan.

The home side created their first chance in the 10th minute when a Mathew Leal strike from the edge of the Longford box went narrowly wide.

Longford had a miraculous escape on 23 minutes when Dean Ebbe found Gideon Tetteh down the left flank, he raced to the left edge of the Longford box and unleashed a stunning curling shot that flew past stranded Longford Keeper Brady. 

The ball hit the inside of the far post, bounced across the goal-line and incredibly came back off the other post before defender Dean O’Shea cleared the ball out for a corner which was dealt with by the visitors.

Athlone midfielder Aaron Connolly was excellent with a superb range of passing and was the stand-out player in the first half. Connolly had a twenty-two-yard free kick saved by Longford stopper Jack Brady on 27 minutes.

Athlone were very dangerous on the counter-attack and on 29  minutes they stretched the Longford defence with a brilliant flowing move that saw Connolly releasing Campion-Hinds down the right and his ball across the field eventually came to Noah Van Geenen whose twenty-three-yard effort flashed just wide.

The home side deservedly took the lead just before the break. A brilliant four man move began with Connolly spraying the ball out to Campion-Hinds who then found Tetteh and he passed to Van Geenen whose twenty-four-yard strike was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Brady in the Longford goal.

However, Longford’s  reprieve did not last long as Brian Torre’s right-wing corner was headed down by Dylan Hand into the path of Connolly whose twelve-yard shot bounced into the ground and flew into the left-hand corner of the Longford net.

Athlone’s dominance continued in the second half and on 55 minutes Connolly weaved his way past three defenders but was forced out wide and his eventual shot on the turn was easily saved by Brady.

The home side increased their lead on 65 minutes when poor Longford defending allowed a Torre right-wing corner to sail all the way into the far corner of the Longford net despite the best efforts of Bastien Hery.

Two minutes later it was 3-0 as a long throw from Campion-Hinds resulted in Van Geenen’s looping header beating Longford keeper Brady and ending up in the net.

Worse was to follow for Longford Town as they went four down on 73 minutes when Van Geenen fired home his second goal of the contest from the edge of the box after turning his marker before his powerful strike nestled into the bottom left corner of the net.

Longford scored a consolation goal on 78 minutes when Jordan Adeyemo headed a Shane Elworthy cross from the right to the back of the Athlone net.

A miserable night for the visitors ended with the reduction to ten players in stoppage time as substitute Mohammed Boudiaf was sent-off for a second bookable offence after a foul on Athlone defender Oisin Duffy.

Longford Town now turn their attention to the FAI Cup and are facing a very difficult task in the second round tie against Premier Division opponents Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday next July 19. 

ATHLONE TOWN (4-3-3): Duggan, Duffy, Rodriguez, Hand, Torre, Van Geenen, Connolly, Leal, Campion-Hinds, Ebbe, Tetteh.

Subs:- Robinson for Ebbe (68 mins); Oakley for Campion-Hinds and Forbes for Tetteh (both 74 mins); Mujaguzi for Van Geenen (83 minutes).

LONGFORD TOWN (4-5-1): Jack Brady, Shane Elworthy, Viktor Serdeniuk, Dean O’Shea, Kyle O’Connor, Daniel Norris, Bastien Hery, Eric Yoro, Ross Fay, Karl Chambers, Jordan Adeyemo.

Subs:- Emmanuel James for Fay and Mohammed Boudiaf for Chambers (both 57 mins); Emre Topcu for Hery and Carl Lennox for Serdeniuk (both 80 mins).

Referee: Daryl Carolan (Louth).