Late Bolger wondergoal not enough as Longford pull into play-off places

By Donncha Noonan | Photo: Kevin Barry Dorney

Off the back of a brilliant resounding win at home to UCD last time out, Barry Robson’s men headed to the Midlands as City faced off against playoff hopefuls Longford Town, who were looking to grab their second win over City of the season. That they did, as goals from Darragh Murtagh and Aaron Doran nullified a late Greg Bolger stunner to give the hosts a vital three points.

After giving valuable minutes to young players against UCD, Barry Robson made five changes to the side that started that game. Conor Brann, Conor Drinan, Josh Fitzpatrick, Cillian Murphy and Niall O’Keeffe all made way, with Murphy out of the squad on international duty, being replaced by Joe Aidoo, Matthew Murray, David Odumosu, Fiacre Kelleher and Luke Downey.

As for Longford, Wayne Groves went with two switches from their win away to Finn Harps last week, with Kian Brunton and Scott Brady entering the team in place of Pharrell Manuel and Alex O’Brien.

The first chance of the game went the way of the visitors just four minutes in. A floated Joe Aidoo corner flew towards the back post where it found the head of the unmarked Rory Feely, but the City defender’s header went straight into the hands of Kian Moore.

City maintained most of the possession, but Longford were proving dangerous on the counter, something that they almost took full advantage of in the thirty-sixth minute. Jake Hough burst out of the Longford defence, before spraying the ball wide to Andy Paraschiv, who returned the favour with a lovely backheel into the path of Hough’s run. He delivered a cross to the back post which found Aaron Doran at the backpost, whose shot slipped past Conor Brann, but Darragh Crowley was on the line to heroically prod the ball away from danger.

Longford’s potency wasn’t for nothing though, as the hosts took the lead on the stroke of half time. Sultan Adenekan got down the right hand side to the byline before pulling the ball across goal which was half cleared by City. It fell to Darragh Murtagh at the edge of the box, who let off a curling effort which deflected past the outstretched David Odumosu and into the back of the net.

That was the last action of the first half, where despite City’s  large amount of possession, it was Longford who went into the break a goal to the good. 

City came out in the second half switched into a four at the back, looking to reduce the effectiveness of Longford’s counters whilst also trying to become better themselves at taking advantage of their possession, something they very almost did in the sixty-third minute. Niall O’Keeffe found Josh Fitzpatrick out wide with a lovely ball, with the winger heading to the byline. He pulled the ball across to the front post to find Ruairi Keating, but the City frontman could only rattle a shot against the side netting.

The visitors continued to create chances, but couldn’t put any away, with Fiacre Kelleher’s volley from close range three minutes later forcing Kian Moore to tip the ball over the bar as City looked to pursue an equaliser.

City were getting close, and had their best chance of the game in the seventy-fourth minute. Greg Bolger lifted a cross into the box which found Seani Maguire, whose header on goal was parried away by Kian Moore. The loose ball fell to Ruairi Keating about eight yards out, who sidefooted his close ranger effort off of the crossbar to the dismay of the City away support.

The lack of punishment from City proved costly, as De Town doubled their lead six minutes from time. Darragh Murtagh and Aaron Doran played a lovely one-two on the right hand side off of Sultan Adenekan’s throw-in, before the latter came inside and curled the ball into the bottom left corner to all but wrap up the game.

Things did get a bit nervy for the hosts though as City halved the deficit in the second minute of additional time. Josh Fitzpatrick’s inswinging cross from the right hand side was nodded away by the Longford defence, but only as far as Greg Bolger, who flicked the ball up before sending an extraordinary volley into the bottom right corner to give his side a fighting chance.

City just could not avail of that chance though, and the game ended with Longford as the victors. They did dominate the ball, but the prevailing issue was their proficiency in front of goal, in stark contrast to last week’s affair. It wasn’t a particularly bad performance from Barry Robson’s side, it really just came down to the fact that Longford were more efficient with their chances than CIty were. That being said, Longford deserve credit for their defensive performance, but really City should have taken two or three chances. The change to a back four in the second half certainly helped things defensively, but ultimately it wasn’t quite enough.

My Man of the Match goes to Sultan Adenekan. He was the pick of the bunch in the Longford team for me, he was integral in Longford’s nullification of City’s usually destructive attack and even contributed often going forward, playing a part in both of De Town’s goals. 

It’s yet another trip to the midlands that awaits City next week, as they head to Athlone. As for Longford, they continue their playoff hunt with a trip to Wexford.