Longford Town take on Finn Harps in search of precious points

Longford Town FC face a must win game on Friday when they travel to Ballybofey to play Finn Harps (kick-off 7.45pm) as manager Wayne Groves bids to keep his team in the hunt for a place in the First Division promotion play-offs.

To say that the recent home defeats were a disaster is an understatement. The loss against Kerry two weeks ago was a bad blow when the visitors dictated the play from start to finish but they were very well organised and they deserved to win.

The setback against Kerry was very hard to take but what happened last Saturday night against Treaty United at Bishopsgate was really embarrassing.

When supporters pay good money to go out and support the team one expects effort on the pitch and last Saturday’s game and performance left a lot to be desired.

Admittedly the absence of the suspended Cole Omorehiomwan is a big loss to the management and the fact that he is suspended for four games is bad news for the club as they chase a play-off place.

Lack of a replacement for Cole is another major problem for the club. Injuries are beginning to take its toll on the club as they chase precious points but there is no doubt that we can pick up enough points to end up in the top 5.

The loss of Cole through suspension and the loss of injured trio Jamie Egan, Osaze Irhue and Dean George are a massive setback for the management as we chase enough points to end up in the play-offs.

In fairness, Treaty played to a plan and waltzed away with the three points. The recent defeats at home moved us from fourth to sixth but that can be changed in the final five games if we can go back to the football that won us many games recently.

To be fair you wouldn’t think that Treaty were in 9th place in the table but that was helped by a less than average performance from our team and a superb display from our former keeper Jack Brady who showed what a good player he is.

The Town did threaten on occasions but Treaty looked more interested in winning.

We now have to plan ahead for the final five games and there is no place for slip ups in those fixtures,

The Town and Harps met on three occasions this year and it’s honours even at this stage with a win each and the third game was a draw.

The first meeting was at Bishopsgate and the visitors won 1-0. The goal came in the 9th minute from a disputed penalty.

The goal was scored from the spot by J Bradley-Walsh but that’s only half the story. The referee at that game awarded the penalty despite the fact that the incident happened at least five yards outside the penalty area.

The second meeting was played in Finn Park at the end of May and that game ended 2-2. The Town took a two goal lead with goals from Andy Paraschiv and Stefan Ugbesia but sloppiness in defence let the home team score two very late goals to snatch a draw.

The third meeting was played in Bishopsgate in early August and the Town came out on top with a five goal display. The goals from that game were scored by Dean Williams (2), Daragh Murtagh, Alex O’Brien and James Bailey in a comprehensive win.

There has been a lot of changes in the make up of Finn Harps where they now have Patrick McEleney as interim head coach who has a big job ahead of him at this stage of the season.

Last Friday’s victory against Wexford FC was their first in nine games and no doubt will have given them a great boost going into the final run of fixtures.

Stand-in manager McEleney has a massive job on his hands with this very youthful side but they have been playing together for some time now and the experience they have got since joining the first team will help them going forward.

The experienced Tony McNamee is still pulling the strings in midfield and he has many enthusiastic players around him to try and get away from the bottom of the table.

They travelled to Wexford last Friday and won 3-1 with goals from McNamee, Benny Monteiro and sub Oran Brogan.

The trip to Ballybofey is a tough one and it will take a big effort from everyone to take the three points that we need to get back into the top half of the First Division table.

Thanks to our supporters

A big thank you to our supporters who came out in good numbers for the Treaty United match. There was a great atmosphere despite the result and let’s hope that our final home games against champions Cork City and our final day home game v Athlone Town produce the desired results.