Rampant Longford Town outclass bottom of the table Finn Harps

Longford Town . . . 5 Finn Harps . . . 0

Longford Town FC defeated nine-man Finn Harps at Bishopsgate on Bank Holiday Monday by five goals to nil as goals from Dean Williams, Daniel McKenna, Daragh Murtagh, Alex O’Brien and James Bailey secured all three points for Wayne Groves’ charges on his 100th game as the manager of the midlanders.

This result keeps Longford Town in fourth place in the First Division but now they are only three points behind second placed Bray Wanderers, while Finn Harps are firmly rooted to the bottom-of-the-table, six points behind Athlone Town.

The first twenty-four minutes was pedestrian with just three chances created. The Town had two decent opportunities within a minute of each other. In the fourth minute, striker Williams intercepted a poor clearance but he fired his shot from a tight angle on the right into the side netting.

Less than sixty seconds later, a Jake Hough corner from the right came back off the crossbar, the ball was retrieved by Daragh Murtagh and he played a dangerous ball into the box that was fired over the bar by McCarthy from just six yards out.

Harps’ first opportunity came in the twenty-second minute when Gavin McAteer whipped in a cross from the right that was headed over the Town bar by centre-half Max Hutchinson.

Three minutes later a good Longford move resulted in a Williams cross from the left just being too high for Andy Paraschiv and his header went well over.

Four minutes later it was the Donegal men who had a chance to take the lead. Bernardo Monteiro’s left-wing corner picked out Guilherme Priosti inside the six-yard box but the former Longford Town player headed wide.

Just after the half-hour mark, a McKenna shot from twenty-five yards out was saved by visiting keeper Piaia, but the Midlanders hit the front just a minute later when a quickly taken free-kick from McKenna from inside the centre-circle caught the Harps’ defence napping allowing Williams to run in on goal and calmly fire past Piaia.

On thirty-seven minutes, a right-wing corner from Hough was headed wide from inside the Harps’ six-yard box by Cole Omorehiomwan.

The Ballybofey side suffered a massive blow in first half injury time when their striker Bridel Bosakani was shown a straight red-card for an off the ball foul on Town’s Sean Moore.

The game was effectively over within six minutes of the restart as the ‘Red & Black’ scored two goals on forty-nine and fifty-one minutes.

Town went two-nil up when Hough ran along the end-line from the left and his superb low ball into the six-yard box was turned in by McKenna.

Two minutes later, it was three-nil. McCarthy passed to Hough on the left and his pin-point cross was headed home by Murtagh.

Longford dominated possession but they had to wait until the seventy-eighth minute for their next good opportunity. It was a move involving two substitutes with James Bailey having a shot blocked and the rebound effort from Ronan Dawson was saved by Harps’ stopper Piaia.

It was four-nil for the Midlanders on eighty-three minutes when substitute Matthew Harris took a short corner to Pharrel Manuel and his cross resulted in O’Brien’s glancing header nestling in the bottom corner of the net.

The Donegal side were reduced to nine players on eighty-six minutes when substitute Shaunie Bradley was dismissed for a second bookable offence and the misery was completed for the visitors on eighty-nine minutes when Bailey’s rocket from sixteen yards out rattled the roof of the net.

Longford Town (4-2-3-1): Kian Moore, O’Brien, Omorehiomwan, McCarthy, Hough, Sean Moore, McKenna, Manuel, Murtagh, Paraschiv, Williams.

Substitutes: Bailey for McKenna, Harris for Paraschiv & Ugbesia for Williams (all 61 minutes), Dawson for Murtagh (72 minutes), Brunton for O’Brien (83 minutes).

Finn Harps (4-1-4-1): Piaia, Cullen, Hutchison, Brogan, Coyle, Harkin, McAteer, McNamee, Priosti, Monteiro, Bosakani.

Substitutes: Bradley for Harkin & Fanle for Monteiro (both 56 minutes), McDaid for Priosti (70 minutes), Preston for Cullen & McGranaghan for McNamee (both 79 minutes).

Referee: Ryan Maher.