Resilient Longford Town battle back for a positive draw away to Kerry FC

With the confidence factor dented in the aftermath of the home defeat against Cobh the previous week, resilient Longford Town showed a lot of character in battling back for a positive result against Kerry FC at Mounthawk Park in Tralee on Friday night.

Kerry FC . . . 1   Longford Town . . . 1

In the absence of Aaron Doran, Dean George and Osaze Irhue, the Longford manager Wayne Groves will be pleased with the draw after his side fell behind to a Sean McGrath goal for Kerry in the 51st minute.

Another loss was looking like the likely outcome at this stage of the game but the gutsy visitors refused to be rattled and their perseverance was rewarded when a header from Alex O’Brien yielded the equaliser in the 65th minute.    

The first half was a fairly forgettable 45 minutes, with plenty of perspiration in the middle third of the pitch, but little by way of much inspiration close to goal from either side, though Kerry did have the better of the chances.

The home side started very well, full of energy and intent, and it seemed clear that their manager Colin Healy strong words were ringing in the players’ ears after back-to-back defeats in the first two games of the season.

Kerry played on the front-foot in the first five minutes, and good early pressure saw them create plenty of panic in the Longford box. Kerry forced two corners in those early minutes but couldn’t quite work a shot to trouble the opposing keeper Kian Moore. 

For all that decent early effort, the first proper strike on goal came at the other end of the pitch when Daragh Murtagh found a little time and space in the 10th minute to get a smart shot on target, but it was an easy take for Harry Halwax, the former Longford keeper who was preferred in goal ahead of Matthew Connor.

The closest either team came to scoring in the first  half fell to Sean McGrath in the 16th minute when he shifted on to his right foot and crashed his shot off the crossbar from 14 yards out.

The game settled down for the next 20 minutes with neither side particularly dominant or able to dictate the play to any great extent in front of 510 spectators on a dry but cold night.

In the 38th minute, Vincent Borden tried his luck from distance, and though his shot from some 25 yards momentarily had Moore scampering to his left, the ball was always going high and wide. 

Kerry finished the first half as they started it, pushing forward and keeping Longford on the back foot. Sean O'Connell fired a well-struck shot on 45 minutes that went wide, but the deadlock couldn’t be broken as the teams went for the half-time break.

The breakthrough came on 51 minutes. Niall Brookwell picked up the ball in the centre circle and shaped a beautiful pass that sent Finn Barrett in behind on the edge of the 18-yard box. His low, square cross was perfectly met by Sean McGrath’s right foot almost on the penalty spot to give Town netminder Kian Moore no chance. 

Now behind, Longford injected a little more urgency into their play, and on 65 minutes Luke O’Brien won the visitors a corner. When the ball came in, Alex O’Brien headed it goalward, and despite a defensive flick from a Kerry head, O’Brien followed the ball to head it past Halwax. 

On 71 minutes, Andy Paraschiv had a shot from outside the box with Halwax slightly off his goal line, but the goalkeeper seemed to be reasonably composed as the ball continued to rise as it went over his crossbar.

Healy sent mid-week signing Eric Koufie on for his Kerry FC debut on the hour-mark and the teenager who arrived on loan from Shamrock Rovers made an impact but neither side really went close to getting a winner.

KERRY FC: Harry Halwax, Finn Barrett, Kilian Cantwell, Jonas Hakkinen, Sean O’Connell, Niall Brookwell, Sean McGrath, Ewan Lee, Vincent Borden, Cian Murphy, Luke Palmer. 

Subs: Eric Koufie for Palmer (60 mins), Brandon Bermingham for McGrath (77 mins), Cian Brosnan for Barrett (87 mins), Kieran Cooney for O’Connell (87 mins).

LONGFORD TOWN: Kian Moore; Alex O’Brien, Cole Omorehiomwan, Conor Errity, Taylor McCarthy; Sean Moore; Pharrell Manuel, Luke O’Brien, Andy Paraschiv; Stefan Ugbesia, Daragh Murtagh. 

 Subs: Francis Campbell for Ugbesia (70 mins), Sultan Adenekan for Paraschiv (83 mins), Dean Williams for Murtagh (83 mins), Kobichidi Ndebumadu for Campbell (90 mins). 

Referee: Robert Dowling.