League Report: Longford Town 1 - 1 Derry City

Derry City missed the chance to join Dundalk at the summit of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division drawing 1-1 with a battling Longford Town at City Calling Stadium on Saturday.

After a positive start from Longford Town, where they got about the Derry City players making life very difficult, the away side took control of possession as the game progressed. However City created  very little as they had poor passing in the final third.

Firmly against the run of play Longford got a corner in the 26^th minute and took the lead courtesy of a David O’Sullivan header from Kevin O’Connor’s set piece. 

Kenny Shields’ charges dominated the remainder of the half with most of the threat coming down the left hand side.

Derry City were given a great opportunity to level the game when Rory Patterson was sent through on goal and was brought down in the box. Patterson got up himself to take the spot kick however he missed tamely from the penalty spot shooting straight at Paul Skinner.

A number of chances came Derry’s way as the half wore on. However a mix of Skinner saves and poor finishing kept the Longford goal intact.

The guiltiest was Dean Jarvis who went clean through on goal after a fine move only to smash the ball off the underside of the bar with the bouncing off the goal line before being cleared by the Town defense. 

Near the end of the half Aaron Barry had to go off injured and he was replaced by Patrick McClean. Ironically it was his own player who injured Barry as he got caught in a tackle between Don Cowan and Harry Monaghan.

The second half got underway with no further changes by either side and the City onslaught continued.

The Town really struggled to get out of their half but were well marshalled from the back and defended well from the front not giving Derry enough time on the ball to create many clear cut chances.

Just when it seemd Longford began to take control of the game up stepped Patrick McClean and rifled the ball into the top corner from around 35 yards out. Instead of the inevitable winner for the Candystripes coming after the equalizer, it actually galvanized Longford into a promising finish to the game but they couldn’t find the winner.

Derry though headed back to the Brandywell wondering how they didn’t win this game but can look forward to three home games in a row.

Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Mark Hughes, Pat Flynn, Noel Haverty, Tristan Noack Hofman; Peter McGlynn, Kevin O’Connor (Philip Gannon 72); David O’Sullivan Don Cowan (Lee Duffy 68).

Subs not used: Ian Molloy, Jamie Mulhall, Kealon Dillon, Josh O’Hanlon, Kaleem Simon.

Booked: Mark Rossitor (9), John McKeon (34), Mark Hughes (75), Tristan Noak Hofman (76).

Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Niclas Vemmelund, Ryan McBride, Aaron Barry (Patrick McClean 37), Dean Jarvis; Aaron McEneff, Harry Monaghan (Conor McCormack 49); Ronan Curtis, Barry McNamee, Keith Ward (Nathan Boyle 80); Rory Patterson.

Subs not used: Shaun Patton (GK), Jordan Allan, Ryan Doherty, Gareth McFadden.

Booked: Harry Monaghan (30), Dean Jarvis (48), Ryan McBride (89). 

Referee: Sean Grant.

Attendance: 500 (est)

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: David O’Sullivan (Longford Town).