Longford Town -v- Shelbourne

• Gareth Penrose
• Sat, Mar 05 2011


The final game in the first series of Airtricity League fixtures takes place on Saturday evening when Shelbourne travel to Flancare Park to take on Longford Town (kick-off 7.30pm).

Last season it was the Dublin side that had the advantage winning twice in Longford and drawing 1-1 in Tolka Park. This season however the composition of both sides is very different with Shels introducing over 14 new players and over nine new faces have joined Longford so previous head to head form will go out the window.

Longford Town manager Tony Cousins will definitely be missing former Athlone Town striker Austin Skelly. He is sidelined with an Achilles injury. Apart from that absense, Cousins will have a full squad to choose from and he is looking forward to the challenge of facing early title favourites Shelbourne.

“It’s a great game to start off with. It’ll give us a good test of where we are at against one of the sides that are going to be favourites to get promoted. The lads are looking forward to it and I wouldn’t be going into the game fearing anyone."

“Hopefully we will get a good run going. Overall we are very well prepared. I am happy in the way the lads are moving and I’m looking forward to getting started."

Shelbourne boss Alan Mathews is no stranger to Longford Town having managed the club for five years and he expects his former employers to be in the mix at the end of the season

“Saturday’s game is going to be tough. I expect Longford to be one of a number of teams to be up there fighting for promotion at the end of the season and we will need to be at our best to take the points from Flancare.”

Mathews may have to plan without Sean Byrne (hamstring) and Colin James (knee) as they are likely to miss Saturday’s game. The manager will have a full squad to chose from other than these two, with no players under suspension.

Referee: R, Rogers

Extratime.ie prediction: A closely fought contest, with the visitors the eventual winners 2-1.