Ten-man Longford Town crash to disappointing defeat against Athlone

Ten-man Longford Town’s search for their first away win of the season continues as goals from Cillian Tollett and substitute Peter Grogan earned all three points for Athlone Town in the midlands derby on Easter Monday. 

Athlone Town . . . 2     Longford Town . . . 0

On four minutes, Gradi Lomboto split the Town defence with a superb pass that found Patrick Ferry inside the box but his shot was brilliantly blocked by Longford defender Cole Omorehiomwan.

The visitors almost took the lead on the quarter-hour mark when Daniel McKenna threaded the ball through the Athlone defence to find striker Daragh Murtagh, only for his shot from a tight angle on the right to come back off the post with Osaze Irhue’s rebound strike being cleared off the line by Athlone defender Kyle O’Connor.

A brilliantly worked triangle free-kick from Longford Town created the next chance in the 27th minute. McKenna took a short free-kick from the right to Alex O’Brien who quickly passed the ball back to the right wing to Pharrel Manuel, he ran into the box and floated a cross to the back post where Dean Williams’ overhead kick was saved by Athlone keeper Trainor.

Athlone took the lead in stoppage time with the last attack of the first half. O’Connor took a short corner to Aaron Moloney and his cross picked out striker Cillian Tollett. His first effort came back off the post into the arms of Longford keeper Kian Moore, but the ball squirmed out of his grasp allowing Tollett to prod the ball into the net from close range.

Longford’s task was made harder on fifty-four minutes when midfielder Sean Moore was dismissed for a second bookable offence after a high challenge on Athlone’s Callum Cleary.

The visitors had a chance to draw level on sixty-seven minutes when an O’Brien pass deflected into the path of striker Williams but his low twenty-two-yard shot was saved by home keeper Trainor.

Athlone had a great opportunity to double their advantage on seventy-four minutes when a long ball over the top put substitute Grogan through but he fired his effort straight at Longford stopper Kian Moore.

It only took Grogan a minute to redeem himself as he ran into the Longford box to turn home Lomboto’s left-wing cross with his outstretched right foot guiding the ball into the bottom right corner to effectively end the game as a contest.

Athlone Town (4-4-2): Trainor, Webb, Kehir, Crawford, O’Connor, Cleary, Moloney, McManus, Lomboto, Ferry, Tollett.

Substitutes:- Smith for Tollett & Grogan for Ferry (both 72 mins), Lawless for Cleary (88 mins), Sheerin for Lomboto (90 plus 3 minutes).

Longford Town (3-5-2): Kian Moore, Omorehiomwan, McCarthy, Errity, McKenna, Manuel, Sean Moore, O’Brien, Irhue, Murtagh, Williams.

Substitutes:- Paraschiv for Omorehiomwan and Doran for Manuel (both 65 mins), Ugbesia for O’Brien, Campbell for Murtagh and Robinson for Williams (82 minutes). 

Referee: Mark Patchell.