Dynamic Doran the matchwinner for Longford Town against Kerry FC

A twenty-fourth minute goal scored by midfielder Aaron Doran secured a valuable win for Longford Town over Kerry FC at Bishopsgate on Saturday night last. 

Longford Town . . . 1     Kerry FC . . . 0

There was very little action in the first twenty-three minutes of the match with Kerry FC having the only attempt on goal which came in the fifth minute when a long throw-in from the left from Cian Bargary resulted in Killian Cantwell’s hooked shot from the edge of the Longford box sailing over the Town crossbar.

The home side took the lead with their first attempt on goal on twenty-four minutes with a brilliantly worked team goal that involved up to six Longford players. The ball came out to Andy Paraschiv down the left, he held the ball up and then played a superb pass to Osaze Irhue, Irhue ran towards the Kerry goal along the end-line and pulled the ball back into the path of Pharrell Manuel, and he teed-up Aaron Doran who sumptuously curled his fifteen-yard shot beyond visiting keeper Harvey Mangan into the top left corner of the net.

The goal seemed to inspire Longford Town as they produced some excellent football for the rest of the half with Daniel McKenna in particular spraying plenty of excellent passes down both flanks but in particular down the left wing.

The midlanders came close to doubling their lead twice in stoppage time. Another brilliant team move started with Manuel playing a clever pass into the path of McKenna and he picked out Paraschiv with a pin-point ball, and the latter set-up Doran but his deflected shot was superbly pushed around the post by Kerry stopper Mangan, and from Paraschiv’s left-wing corner, Town Captain Alex O’Brien headed an effort against the Kerry Post.

Kerry had the first chance of the second-half when substitute Matthew Britton floated a twenty-yard free-kick from the left over the Town wall but it flew wide of the far post.

On seventy-one minutes a quick exchange of passes between Doran and Irhue released Doran down the left, he jinked his way to the edge of the Kerry box but his shot was easily saved by Mangan in the Kerry goals.

Six minutes later, Longford had another opportunity when Dean Williams took advantage of a Kerry defender’s slip and gained possession, he squared the ball across to Doran only for the diminutive Town midfielder to fire wide from twenty yards out.

Longford should have sealed the points in the eighty-ninth minute when substitutes Francis Campbell and Daragh Murtagh combined but Murtagh sliced his shot from Campbell’s cross wide of the far post when he should have scored, but the home side saw it out to the final whistle to earn three valuable points.

Longford Town (4-2-3-1): Moore, O’Brien, McCarthy, Errity, Irhue, McKenna, Adenekan, Manuel, Doran, Paraschiv, Williams.

Substitutes: Ugbesia for Manuel, Murtagh for Williams, & Campbell for Paraschiv (all 80 minutes), Omorehiomwan for Doran & Sean Moore for McKenna (both 90 + 1 minutes).

Kerry FC (4-3-3): Mangan, Lee, Cantwell, Häkkinen, O’Connell, Healy, Brookwell, McGrath, Bargary, Kelliher, Murphy.

Substitutes: Borden for Healy & Britton for McGrath (both half-time), Brosnan for Murphy (74 minutes), Keane for O’Connell and Koufie for Brookwell (both 87 minutes).

Referee: John Sconnie Walsh.