Longford Town face difficult task against the table toppers Dundalk at Oriel Park

After last Saturday night's hard earned victory over Kerry FC at Bishopsgate it will be a real tough journey to Co Louth to take on league title favourites Dundalk in Oriel Park on Friday night, kick-off 7.45pm.

Dundalk were relegated last season and they are everyone's favourites to go straight back up and their form to date would indicate that they are the team to beat. 

After 5 games played they sit on the top of the table on 13 points from 4 wins and a draw but they are only two points ahead of surprise packets Cobh who are also unbeaten. 

Wexford are in third place with 9 points from four games played. Those three will be fighting it out on the top for the coming months. 

Usually when a team is relegated some struggle to get back up but Dundalk, who are the second most successful club in Ireland, will be expected to gain promotion. 

Dundalk have won 14 Premier Division titles, 12 FAI Cups, 7 League Cups and two First Division titles which is an amazing list of honours.

Last season was a poor one for the club being relegated and also having financial troubles which seem to be cleared up.

Their coach Ciaran Kilduff is a former Dundalk player and more recently he was manager of Athlone Town's ladies team where he had great success. 

Ciaran has assembled a very useful squad which includes some very experienced players and also includes some outstanding young players. 

The first two players Ciaran signed were from his old club Athlone Town was keeper Enda Minogue and striker Dean Ebbe.  

At the moment Enda isn't playing and goalkeeping coach Peter Cherrie, who is a veteran who at 41, is filling the breach for the new manager.

Daryl Horgan, the former Republic of Ireland player rejoined the club after being in England and Scotland and he is a luxury in the First Division and him being in the team gives the club a big advantage over the rest of the clubs in the First Division.

 Keith Ward, who has many years of experience with all the top clubs, played with Bohemians, Derry City and Sligo Rovers to name a few. Keith is a real match winner and at 34 years he still has a few years left in him. 

The next player will need no introduction to all Town supporters and he will relish playing against his old club. We are talking about our own Aodh Dervin who is playing superbly for his new club. Both he and Horgan will be dominating games for their club in this competitive First Division. 

Looking at the Dundalk squad we see the experienced players but they also have some very exciting young players also. Eoin Kenny is only 19 years old and he plays in midfield and he is a son of former Longford Town and Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny who also managed the Republic of Ireland.

Sean McHale is a 19 year old defender while he has an 18 year old  colleague in the defence Sean Keogh is his name and big things are expected from him also. Another young midfielder is Andy Paraschiv who joined the club from Glebe North in the Leinster Senior League and he is very highly rated at 18 years old also. Central midfielder Harry Groome is 23 years old and he brings a lot of experience from previous clubs.

 Striker Leonardo Gaxha joined the club this year also and he missed last week's game due to suspension. Conor O'Keeffe previously with Wexford is another experienced player who plays in defence. Last weekend Dundalk travelled to Bray and came away with a 3-1 victory with goals from Daryl Horgan, Dean Ebbe and Eoin Kenny and they were three up after half an hour. 

The previous weekend Dundalk were at home to Treaty and they were two goals up with goals from Ebbe and Aodh Dervin but Treaty hit back with goals in the 86th and 90th minute to snatch a draw. Dundalk won the previous three games, all on a 1-0 scoreline. They beat Kerry away with the only goal coming from Ebbe. 

The previous weekend they travelled to Finn Harps and came away with the victory with the only goal scored by Sean Keogh after only two minutes. 

Their first game of the season was at home to Athlone Town and the only goal of the game was scored by 16 year old Vinnie Leonard. 

Looking at their results you can see that Dundalk are a seriously strong squad that has lots of players. 

Last Saturday night's game against Kerry FC attracted over 800 supporters to Bishopsgate and most present went home happy.

Daniel Norris missed his second game in succession due to injury and there is no doubt that he is being missed but hopefully he might be back this Friday. Emre Topcu will miss this weekend’s game due to his inclusion in the Turkish under 20 national team and all in Longford wish the midfielder the best of luck in his forthcoming games. 

On the injury front there was some good news last week when the fit again Aaron Walsh came off the bench and scored the all important winner which got us our first win this season.

Luke Wade-Slater is still missing due to injury as is Jamie Egan and keeper Jack McCarthy.

 There is no doubt that Friday's game will be a big test for our youthful squad and we will need to be strong in defence and midfield as Dundalk have so many experienced players with a sprinkling of youth also.