Longford Town 2 - 0 Salthill Devon

• Deniese O'Flaherty
• Sun, May 01 2011


Longford Town moved up to joint second in the table and within one point of leaders Shelbourne with a deserved win over bottom side Salthill Devon at Flancare Park.

Town dominated the game from start to finish but found the visitors extremely resilient and hard to break down. Credit to the home side they didn’t panic and were patient as they piled on the pressure and were duly rewarded in the 68th minute when Don Cowan opened the scoring with a sublime finish.

Just like Dublin Bus, we were waiting for what seemed like forever for one goal and a second one came within minutes of Cowan finding the back of the net. Craig Walsh floated a free in from the left which met the head of defender Des Hope, it hit the post and came out but the linesman on the far side had the perfect view and said it crossed the line.

It could’ve gone oh so wrong for the Town just two minutes before Cowan’s strike. In a rare threat, actually the visitor’s only chance of the game, they could’ve and should’ve scored; Ciprian Straut’s header at the far past amazingly went wide.

Town were spurred into action and in some ways it made them realise that Salthill were very much still in the game. The deadlock was broken by an equisite strike from Cowan; the young striker doesn’t know how to score easy goals.

It was Cowan who had Town’s first chance as early as the first minute. The striker’s fine effort brought an excellent save out of Salthill keeper Ronan Forde.

Town started to boss possession but despite owning much of the ball they couldn’t really muster up many opportunities to test Forde. In the opening twenty minutes they were caught offside three times.

In the 24th minute midfielder Mark Salmon could’ve got the opening goal. He did well to make a burst through midfield, got into the box and after rounding Forde, his shot from a tight angle was blocked by Salthill defender Georoid O’Leidhinn.

That was about it for the Town in the first half. The ball was being spread around and although the visitors didn’t even get a sniff of possession the Town just couldn’t breach the Salthill rearguard.

Salthill had set out their stall to stand firm and frustrate the Town; in the opening half they did just that. Town knew though they had the players who could punish them and if they kept pressing they’d make the breakthrough.

Austin Skelly had a great chance to find the target in the 59th minute. Winger Jacques Morley played in the perfect ball but the striker blazed his effort over the bar. There was another let-off for Salthill in the 65th minute. In what was a beautiful move by the Town, Gillespie laid the ball off to Salmon who found Morley but his fine drive just went inches wide with Forde in the goals well beaten.

After being totally out of the game the visitors could’ve taken a shock lead one minute later but Straut’s placed his header wide when it was easier to score.

That spurred the Town into action and in the 68th minute they finally found the back of the net. Morley played the ball to Cowan who finished with a fantastic strike. It was relief all round for the Town. Three minutes later they doubled their advantage. Walsh’s free from the left was met by Hope and his powerful header went in, albeit with a little help from the post.

Longford Town: Hunt; O'Reilly, Deans, Hope, Cronin; Gillespie (Brady 70), Salmon, Hyland (Walsh 56), Morley; Cowan, Skelly (L Roche 83)

Salthill Devon: Forde, Greaney, O'Leidhinn, James Whelan, Cian Fadden, Cian McBrien, Rupa (Dolan 85), Conlon (McConnell 85), Collins, Straut, Nkolo (Molloy 54)

Referee: Jim McKell (Tipperary)

Attendance: 300 est.

ExtraTime.ie man of the match: Don Cowan (Longford Town) – Worked his socks off and his goal was a real gem.