Longford Town suffer unfortunate defeat as Cork City snatch all three points

Cork City . . . 3   Longford Town . . . 2 

Although rooted at the foot of the table for practically the entire season, Longford Town are not given up the fight in the face of adversity after coming so close to causing a major upset at Turner’s Cross on Friday night last. 

The runaway First Division leaders Cork City  had to come from behind twice before they eventually snatched all three points with returning local hero Seanie Maguire scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute.

The pressure was mounting from the moment the lethal striker Maguire put the home side back on level terms in the 59th minute after they trailed 2-1 at half-time with Danny Norris and Francis Campbell (penalty) on target for the Town. 

A decisive factor was the dismissal of Longford defender Dean O’Shea who received a second yellow card in the 86th minute and the visitors were unable to hold out for a deserved draw. 

It was certainly rough justice on Longford to lose after producing such a spirited display but time is running out in the fierce battle to vacate the bottom position with seven league games remaining. 

The first of those fixtures is against Bray Wanderers at Bishopsgate this Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm) and a repeat of the gallant performance at Turner’s Cross might well yield a badly needed win.

The Town are still four points adrift of second from bottom Kerry FC and while Cork enjoyed the greater share of the possession the visitors had a couple of great chances of establishing a two-goal advantage.

Much to the horror of the vociferous home supporters among the official attendance of  2,468, it was not looking good for City with their manager Tim Clancy receiving a red card after disputing what he deemed to be a controversial decision for the penalty incident in the 35th minute. 

Up stepped Campbell to convert the spot kick, awarded for a foul on Norris who had broken the deadlock in the 20th minute after connecting with a pass from Ross Fay. 

Cork were creating several chances with Ruairi Keating scoring the equaliser in the 24th minute as his header evaded the Longford keeper Harry Halwax. 

After Dean O’Shea went close to scoring a third goal for Longford in first half stoppage time, Daniel Norris miskicked a glorious opportunity of striking a killer blow in the early stages of the second half. 

Then came the equaliser and ten-man Town were eventually undone when a left wing cross from Cork substitute Cian Bargary was flicked to the net by the matchwinner Maguire. 

It was just not meant to be for luckless Longford with Mohammed Boudiaf forced to retire injured with just six minutes gone on the clock in the cracking game at Turner’s Cross.   

CORK CITY: B Wade; D Crowley, C Coleman, N Brookwell (C Lyons h-t), E McLaughlin; M Dijksteel (C Bargary 84), G Bolger, J Doherty (S Murray 75), C O’Sullivan; R Keating, S Maguire (A Healy 90+3).

LONGFORD TOWN: Harry Halwax; Shane Elworthy, Viktor Serdeniuk, Eric Yoro, Dean O’Shea; Ross Fay (Jordon Tallon 86), Emre Topcu; Karl Chambers, Mohammed Boudiaf (Bastien Hery 6), Danny Norris; Francis Campbell (Jordan Adeyemo 86).

Referee: D Toland.

SSE Airtricity League First Division
Round 30
Longford Town v Bray Wanderers at Bishopsgate
Friday 6 September
Kick-off 7.45pm