Longford Town suffer defeat as Cobh come out on top

Badly hit by the concession of a couple of goals in the first half, Longford Town were unable to retrieve the situation in suffering the disappointment of defeat in the Airtricity League First Division clash against physically stronger Cobh at Bishopsgate on Saturday night last. 

Longford Town . . . 1    Cobh Ramblers . . . 2

With the pitch only passing an inspection an hour before the kick-off time due to a downpour of rain all day, the underfoot conditions became more difficult as the game progressed and there were a number of yellow cards issued in the second half with dangerous tackles.
The home supporters among the official attendance of 533 who braved the adverse weather were fuming with some of the decisions made by the match official but it must be said that they created little after pulling a goal back in the 67th minute.
Callun Honohan was penalised for handball in the box and Aaron Doran made no mistake from the subsequent penalty in giving Longford a lifeline when Cobh should have been 3-0 ahead after hitting the post in a sweet move in the 55th minute.
Moments later Dean George had a close range strike well saved by the impressive Ramblers keeper Corey Chambers.
Doran went close twice for the home side in the first half but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock with Rhys Brennan on target in the 17th minute after connecting with a right wing cross.
The killer second goal materialised in the 38th minute when a speculative shot from Honohan received a wicked deflection to the net off the unfortunate young Town defender Conor Errity and that left Longford facing a real uphill battle.
It would probably have been a different story had Daragh Murtagh not missed a great chance in the early stages after breaking through but instead of shooting when well placed to hit the target, the Longford striker elected to pass the ball back straight to a Cobh defender who cleared the danger.
It took a fine point-blank save by the Town keeper Kian Moore to stop a shot from the clean through Rhys Brennan in the 14th minute before the home side created another opportunity when a deflected shot from Aaron Doran was saved by the alert opposing keeper Chambers.
The dangerous Doran almost found the roof of the net from a speculative cross/shot but the two Cobh goals changed the course of the game.
The midlanders are back on the road this Friday when they meet Kerry FC at Mounthawk Park.

LONGFORD TOWN: Kian Moore; Alex O’Brien, Cole Omorehionwan, Conor Errity, Osaze Irhue; Sean Moore; Pharrell Manuel, Aaron Doran, Andy Paraschiv; Dean George, Daragh Murtagh.

Subs:- Stefan Ugbesia for George and Daniel McKenna for Paraschiv (both in the 58th minute); Jake Hough for Irhue (injured), Francis Campbell for Doran and Dean Williams for Murtagh (all in the 75th minute). 

COBH RAMBLERS: Corey Chambers: Garry Buckley, Callum Honohan, Cian Colman, Mikey Carroll; Jason Abbott, Shane Griffin, Rhys Brennan, Rhys Gourdie; Kai O’Neill, Wilson Waweru.

Subs:- Brian Linehan for Abbott (69 mins); Brendan Frahill for Honohan and Rhys Kelly-Noonan for O’Neill (both in the 82nd minute); Lucas Curtis for Waweru (89 mins).  

Referee: Ian O’Keeffe.