Longford Town crack Cork in major boost for promotion play-offs bid

Longford Town . . . 2 Cork City . . . 1

Goals from Daragh Murtagh and Aaron Doran earned Longford Town FC a crucial victory over First Division league champions Cork City at Bishopsgate on Saturday night to move up three places in the table from seventh to fourth as they reclaimed a play-off position.

This was Longford’s second consecutive success against Cork as they won their last meeting away in Turners Cross in an epic contest that produced a stunning 4-3 win for the ‘Red & Black.’

This victory allied to last week’s win away to Finn Harps gives the Town great momentum going into their last three matches of the regular season away to Wexford and UCD and at home to Athlone Town.

The first chance of the match fell to the home side in the eleventh minute when a Town corner was cleared but the ball came out to centre-half Kian Brunton on the edge of the Cork box and his low shot was well saved by City keeper David Odumoso.

Defences were on top throughout the first half, but it was Longford who had the best chance of the first half on thirty-five minutes with an excellent move.

Jake Hough passed to Andy Paraschiv who cleverly back-heeled the ball back to Hough and his ball in from the left picked out Town midfielder Aaron Doran. He controlled the ball brilliantly only for his shot to be superbly cleared off the line by Cork defender Rory Feely with the rebound shot from Scott Brady producing an excellent save from Cork keeper Odumosu.

The Town took the lead with the last attack of the first half when Sultan Adenekan ran along the end line from the right and his low cross was cleared by Cork defender Fiacre Kelleher. But Scott Brady pounced on the loose ball and he cut the ball back to Murtagh on the edge of the Cork box on the right and he fired home a low shot beyond Odumosu that nestled in the bottom right corner of the net.

Cork’s first decent opportunity arrived on fifty-four minutes when a Sean Maguire shot from twenty-two yards out flew over the Longford crossbar.

Five minutes later the visitors created another chance when Joshua Fitzpatrick picked out Seanie Maguire at the near post but his shot on the turn went narrowly wide.

Cork were laying siege to the Longford goal in the second half and they should have equalised on seventy-three minutes when Seanie Maguire’s close-range header was brilliantly saved by Town keeper Kian Moore.

Striker Ruairi Keating should have rattled the net with his rebound effort only to blaze his shot from no more than six yards out against the Longford crossbar.

Longford Town took advantage of that lucky escape by going 2-0 up on eighty-four minutes when Daragh Murtagh teed up Doran and his stunning low diagonal shot from inside the box on the right flew past keeper Odumosu into the bottom far corner of the net.

The champions did get a late, late injury time consolation goal when substitute Greg Bolger blasted home a twenty-two-yard thunderbolt but the Town defence successfully saw out the remaining two minutes to restore their place in the play-offs with three matches to go.

Longford Town (4-2-3-1): Kian Moore, Adenekan, Brunton, McCarthy, Hough, Brady, Sean Moore, Murtagh, Doran, Paraschiv, Williams.

Substitutes: Bailey for Brady (60 minutes), Ugbesia for Williams (78 minutes)

Cork City (3-4-1-2): Odumosu, Feely, Kelleher, Downey, N’Sa, Aidoo, Crowley, Murray, Maguire, Keating, Mpongo.

Substitutes: Drinan for N’Sa (half-time), Bolger for Crowley, O’Keefe for Aidoo and Fitzpatrick for Murray (all 57 minutes), Obenge for Downey (67 minutes).

Referee: Alan Franklin.