Longford Town will have to wait a little while longer to start the new season

The SSE Airtricity First Division Round 1 fixture was called off after a 9.30am pitch inspection at Bishopsgate deemed the pitch unplayable. A new date for the fixture will be announced in due course.

With Longford Town also idle this weekend after receiving the bye in Round 2 of the nine team First Division, the midlanders start to the new season is now stalled to Saturday March 5 in the Round 3 fixture at home to Cork City. 

The 2022 Airtricity League campaign commenced last weekend and there were twenty nine goals scored despite the fact that there were a couple of Premier Division games also postponed: Sligo Rovers v Bohemians and Finn Harps v Drogheda United due to the bad weather.

There was a glut of goals,  especially in the First Division where we got 19 goals in three games. Bray Wanderers, who are now amalgamated with Cabinteely,  were at home to Cork City and the visitors gave an excellent performance in scoring against the Pat Devlin managed club.

Cork came to the Carlisle Grounds and walked away with three points from an amazing 6-0 result. Cork had to wait until the 34th minute for their opening goal and that came from former Town player Dylan McGlade who helped himself to a hat-trick with goals in the 34th, 60th and 63rd minutes. 

Loanee Barry Coffey scored two goals in two minutes in the 57th and 59th minutes. Ruairi Keating scored the final goal in the 76th minute. 

Two former Town players McGlade and Aaron Bolger played in this game for Cork while the home side included ex-Longford players Dean Zambra, Rob Manley, subs Callum Thompson and keeper Michael Kelly. 

Athlone Town, under new manager Martin Russell, got a footballing lesson from relegated Waterford who ran out 5-2 winners in Athlone. 

Waterford, under new manager Ian Morris, showed that they could be the team to beat in this year's First Division as they have retained most of last year's squad who were so unlucky to be relegated last season and they have strengthened their squad.

 There is no doubt that Waterford will be in contention for the automatic promotion place but Athlone will be a fairly decent team when they get some time together as manager Russell is a very clever man and his experience as a player should be a big plus for him in the coming months. 

The third game played in the First Division last weekend saw a new look Wexford team under manager Ian Ryan playing at home against Treaty United.

The Limerick  side, under manager Tommy Barrett, showed in this performance that they will be hard beaten in this year's First Division campaign.

 Treaty did exceptionally well last season on their debut in the League of Ireland but Tommy has made some very shrewd signings and the 5-1 victory away from home on Friday last shows that his team mean business. The Treaty side includes two former Town players, goalkeeper Jack Brady, who made a few excellent saves during the game, and central defender Joe Gorman who scored for his new club in the 64th minute. 

The other Treaty goals came from Callum McNamara, Joel Coustrain and new signing Enda Curran who helped himself to two goals on his debut. 

There is no doubt that this Wexford side are much better than this result would suggest. Paul Hunt, Aidan Friel, Aaron Dobbs and Conor Davis, all former Town players, were in action for Wexford on Friday night last with Davis scoring the Wexford consolation goal direct from a corner. 

Two other former Town players Joe Manley and Jack Doherty are also on Wexford's books and they should strengthen that impressive squad.

 The Town's game v Cobh was postponed on Saturday morning and it was lucky for all concerned as the rotten weather later in the day would have meant that the game wouldn't be played due to the awful rain and winds. 

Unfortunately for Longford manager Gary Cronin his side are also idle this weekend also due to the fact that the league has only nine teams, some mess by the powers that be up in the league's office. How people could decide to run the league like this is unbelievable! The Town's debut in this season's league campaign will now take place on Saturday week at Bishopsgate against Cork City.

This weekend's fixtures feature a few cracking games with Cork City at home to Galway United the pick of the bunch. John Caulfield will relish a trip back to Cork where he played and managed. 

Bray Wanderers have a really tough game coming up as they travel to the RSC to play the very impressive Waterford.

Treaty United will be confident of picking up full points again on Friday when Athlone Town travel down to the Markets Field.

On Saturday night there will be a southern battle when Cobh take on Wexford with both teams looking to pick up their first points. 

Longford Town supporters are really looking forward to seeing the starting line up in their first competitive game on Saturday week (March 5) at Bishopsgate against Cork City.