Longford Town hold out for a precious point against Cobh

Cobh Ramblers . . . 2 Longford Town . . . 2

Longford Town FC withstood a determined comeback from fellow First Division promotion play-off rivals Cobh in the eventual draw at St Colman’s Park on Friday night.

Goals from Dean Williams and Aaron Doran in the closing minutes of the first half left Longford in a commanding 2-0 lead at the break but the course of the exciting game changed completely on the changeover.

It looked like Longford were in control but Cobh got right back into contention with a goal from Dara McCormick in the early stages of the second half and the unfortunate Alex O’Brien scored an own goal for the equaliser in the 69th minute.

The home side could have won the match in the 88th minute but Shane Griffin saw a penalty saved by the competent Town keeper Kian Moore.

St Colman’s Park is always a difficult venue to get a result and while it was a precious point gained in the end, things are getting tight for the play-off places with both Kerry FC (v Treaty United) and Athlone Town (v Bray) winning on Friday night.

Kerry are the visitors to Bishopsgate for a crunch clash on Saturday night next (kick-off 7.30pm) with just a couple of points separating the teams in the First Division table.

Longford put together an excellent move to break the deadlock in the 40th minute. It ended with Dean Williams getting the opening goal after collecting a pass from Doran.

A second goal quickly followed in the 43rd minute. The playmaker Doran turned scorer by picking up a James Bailey pass and rifling the ball into the roof of the net.

Cobh pulled one back in the 51st minute when Griffin set up McCormick for a stunning strike that flew past Kian Moore.

The equaliser came from Rhys Gourdie who chased the ball down from a corner. The midfielder crossed in and O’Brien turned the ball into the net for an own goal.

Cobh continued to apply the pressure in their bid to get the win and it looked like that after a penalty was awarded for a foul on Jordan Adeyemi in the 87th minute. But Kian Moore kept his nerve in diving to his left to deny Griffin the matchwinner.

That decided an end to end encounter that opened with Jonas Stjernberg hitting the post from close range and James Bailey having a powerful goalbound strike saved by the Cobh keeper Timothy Martin.

Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; Callum Honohan, Brandon Frahill (Ronan Mansfield 76), Cian Coleman, Luka Le Bervet (Lucas Curtin 82); Shane Griffin, Dara McCormick (Oran Crowe 82); Anthony Adenopo, Rhys Gourdie, Jordan Adeyemi, Jonas Stjernberg (Rhys Kelly Noonan 86).

Longford Town: Kian Moore; Alex O’Brien, Taylor McCarthy, Cole Omorehiomwan, Jake Hough; Sultan Adenekan (Pharrell Manuel 76), Aaron Doran (Daniel McKenna 76 mins); James Bailey, Stefan Ugbesia (Sean Moore 76), Dean Williams (Francis Campbell 84 mins), Andy Paraschiv (Scott Brady 84 mins).

Referee: John Sconnie Walsh.