Longford Town snatch last gasp equaliser in dramatic finish against Cobh Ramblers

Longford Town . . . 1  Cobh Ramblers . . . 1 

A dramatic last gasp equaliser from substitute Francis Campbell in the fourth minute of stoppage time secured a valuable point for Longford Town against Cobh Ramblers in a dramatic draw at Bishopsgate on Saturday night, a result that moved them off the bottom of the SSE Airtricity League First Division.

Due to a serious road traffic incident on the M8 which significantly delayed the Cork side’s journey to the midlands there was a thirty-minute delay to kick-off with the match eventually getting underway at 8pm. However, it did not prevent second placed Cobh from dominating most of the first half. 

Barry Coffey, who played behind the front two, caused numerous problems for the home defence and he engaged in several opportunities for Cobh.

In the third minute, Coffey’s strike from just inside the Town box on the left flew just wide of the far post, and two minutes later, he had another effort from a similar position that forced a decent save from Town keeper Harry Halwax.

The visitors were much more dangerous attacking down their left flank and again produced another good chance on the quarter hour mark, with captain and defender Shane Griffin firing just wide of the far post with Halwax well beaten.

Against the run of play, the Town almost opened the scoring on eighteen minutes when a super ball over the top of a very high-line Cobh defence from Stefan Ugbesia put in striker Dean George but he blazed his twenty-yard shot over the Cobh bar.

On the half-hour mark, a brilliant run from Ramblers’ striker Cian Murphy resulted in him skipping past Town full-back Luke Wade Slater, he ran into the box along the end-line but his pull back to the unmarked Coffey was superbly intercepted by the alert Town centre-half Aaron Walsh.

Two minutes later, Longford had another lucky escape as a clever lob over Town keeper Halwax by striker Samuel Bellis was acrobatically cleared off the line by Town skipper Dean O’Shea.

The home side had a decent opportunity in the 37th minute on the counter attack after a Cobh attack broke down. The ball found its way to Town striker George down the right wing and his first time cross under pressure almost picked out Danny Norris, but his glancing header on the stretch went wide.

Town’s best player, midfielder Aaron Doran, almost produced a goal out of nothing on forty-two minutes when he executed a very difficult effort from the right side of the penalty area that whizzed wide off the far post.

Cobh had two chances in the space of a minute to break the deadlock on forty-nine minutes. Firstly, a corner from the right from the other Shane Griffin in the visiting side, the midfield version, found the head of defender Cian Coleman eight yards out from the Town goal but Halwax pulled off a magnificent save.

 Moments later, Coffey burst through the Town defence and his pin-point low pass set-up striker Murphy only for his shot to be tipped around the post by the fingertips of Halwax. 

Cobh deservedly took the lead on sixty-eight minutes when Griffin (the defender one) headed the ball high into the Town box. The ball landed in the area and it was eventually headed on by Brendan Frahill despite being surrounded by four Town defenders and the unmarked substitute Matthew Whelan headed to the net from close range.

Longford Town then started to play some good football and a Wade Slater right-wing cross on seventy-two minutes resulted in a downward header from Norris being saved by Cobh keeper Timothy Martin.

In the eighty-first minute a free-kick from substitute Daragh Murtagh was not cleared properly by the Cobh defence and Pharrell Manuel chipped the ball back into the penalty area where an overhead kick from Walsh from just inside the box went narrowly over the bar.

A Cobh counter-attack two minutes later almost caught out the Town. Whelan played the ball out to Murphy on the right, he cut back inside, but his low curling shot was saved by Halwax.

There was a very dramatic ending to the contest as in the last minute of injury time the Town scored the equaliser courtesy of two substitutes. Oisin Hand received the ball halfway inside the Cobh half and his brilliantly weighted pass sailed over several players towards fellow sub Francis Campbell and the latter directed his header into the bottom corner of the Cobh net to earn the Town a vital draw.

LONGFORD TOWN (4-3-2-1): Halwax, Wade-Slater, Spain, Walsh, O’Shea, Manuel, Doran,  Topcu, Ugbesia, Norris, George.

Subs:- Murtagh for George, Campbell for Ugbesia (both 69 mins), Hand for Walsh (90 mins).

COBH RAMBLERS (3-4-1-2): Martin, Coleman, Frahill, Shane Griffin, Evers, Shane Griffin, O’Keeffe, Le Bervet, Coffey, Murphy, Bellis.

Subs:- Holland for Evers (half-time), Whelan for Bellis, Abbott for O’Keeffe (both 62 mins).

Referee: John Walsh.