Longford Town on the road to face Castlebar Celtic in the FAI Cup

Longford Town, who are showing good form in the third phase games in this year’s First Division, have a break from the league this weekend when they travel to play Castlebar Celtic in the FAI Cup on Sunday, kick-off 5pm. 

The talented Castlebar team are doing extremely well in the Mayo League this season. Not only are they unbeaten all season but only last weekend they won their home game on a 14-0 scoreline. 

They also won their previous league game 10-0 which shows that they have lots of scoring power and also a very mean defence. 

Castlebar have played a previous round in the FAI Cup when they travelled to Wexford and beat North End on a 4-1 scoreline. The Castlebar scorers were Hughes, Edwards (2 goals) and Luke Kelly. 

We all know that the Cup always seems to produce one or two shocks in the early rounds and no doubt the Town manager Wayne Groves has done his homework on the Mayo club. 

There are good reports on all the players in the Castlebar squad with netminder Stefan Hester down as an outstanding keeper.

 Their  central defenders Cathal Coyne and Joseph O’Reilly are very experienced and the fact that the team rarely concedes goals is a tribute to both players and keeper Hester. 

Strikers Paul Walsh and Luke Kelly are two very impressive players who will pose a threat up front.

 The Castlebar team is managed by former Town favourite Stevie Gavin. Longford supporters fondly  remember Gavin as he gave his best for the Town club when he played here.

 Stevie has moulded this current Celtic team into one of the best non-league sides in the country and a word of warning for Wayne Groves and the Longford players. 

We in Longford back in our Leinster Senior League days caused a huge shock when we beat a star studded Sligo Rovers side at the greyhound track.

As we all know football is a funny old game and we don’t want a major upset on Sunday evening next. We expect the Town will put out the best fit eleven for this vital game.

 Our form in the league has improved over the last ten matches and anyone present on Saturday night last could see that the team believe that they are good enough to compete with the best in the First Division. 

Last Saturday night’s 3-1 victory has pushed the Town into a mid table position and if the team keeps playing well there could be an outside chance of a fifth place finish and a promotion play-off position. 

To achieve that target it will take a huge effort from all the squad and the management. 

The Town team that started the game against Kerry showed two changes from that which started against Harps the previous weekend. 

Dean O’Shea, who missed the Harps game through injury, came back into the team for Luke Wade-Slater and Stefan Ugbesia (who scored twice against Kerry) came in for Daniel Norris. 

The performance against Kerry was pleasing to say the least as this was a real team performance and the fact that we were able to bring on experienced players off the bench shows that this team is progressing in the right way. 

All five subs used are all regular starters and have lots of experience to push this team higher up the table. Ugbesia is pushing for inclusion in the team to face Castlebar on Sunday. 

The young striker scored two goals last season for Bray’s under 20s team and the start against Kerry will work wonders for his confidence. Keeper Halwax gave another inspired performance in and let’s hope that he gets a clean sheet in Castlebar.

Andrew Spain picked up a knock and had to be replaced by Fran Campbell on 70 mins but hopefully he will be fit to start in the FAI Cup Round 2 clash. 

Two goal hero Ugbesia was replaced by Daniel Norris on 67 mins while the experienced Dean George  was brought on to replace Aaron Doran who is improving with every appearance.

 Eric Yoro is controlling matches from midfield and he was replaced by Luke Wade-Slater who was unlucky not to start against Kerry.

 Unfortunately there are still a few players out due to long term injuries and hopefully they will be returning to the squad for the run into the final games.

 A large Longford crowd is expected to travel to Castlebar on Sunday and the club would like to say a big thank you to all the supporters who have travelled all over the country to support their team. 

Bus to Castlebar

To book your seat on the supporters bus contact Bryan on 087 3810042. Bus departs the N4 Axis Centre at 12.15pm. The club needs your support for this vital Cup game.