Longford Town's Joe Manley delighted with goal and clean sheet on return to starting eleven

Andrew Dempsey reports from City Calling Stadium

Defender Joe Manley revealed his delight having scored his first senior goal with Longford Town on Saturday evening.

The 20-year-old made his first league start since March, helping his side secure a comfortable win in the end, with the added bonus of a clean sheet helping matters. 

“I’m buzzing,” the young defender told extratime.ie.  

“I was obviously a long time out waiting on trying to get into the team, but it was good. I have Conor Kenna and Mick McDonnell there helping me out all the time in training, talking to me all the time.

“I was learning a lot from them even though I wasn’t playing as much as I would have wanted, and I’ve come in tonight with a change in formation.

“Everything has gone well, a good win, a clean sheet and I’m delighted to get the last goal of the night.”

His late goal at the back post reminded some of his brother Rob Manley’s fine form for Cabinteely.

“I’ll be hearing that for a while,” the former St Patrick’s Athletic youngster laughed. “I only need 13 more to catch up with him so I’ll do my best!”

Prior to Dean Byrne’s opener, Longford struggled to break down a stubborn Galway United – a side that Manley has plenty of praise for.

“Galway are a very good opposition; we know that from the past. We’ve had tough games against them before, dropped points versus them.

“We were certainly well up for it going into the game, we knew it would be a really tough game and it was.

“Everything seemed to click with us in the second half and we managed to get a win, a clean sheet and four goals on the board.

“We have been very good at home, so we were well up for it against Galway. It’s now looking towards next week, going away from home which hasn’t been up to scratch lately.

“Everyone is up for next week already, we haven’t won away in a while so hopefully we can get a win on the board.”

Neale Fenn’s young defender added; “It will be my first derby (against Athlone) and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve sat on the bench for the last two, but I really enjoyed being a part of them – the atmosphere is great.

“We’ve been on the right end of results so far and we’re going to look to push on and try get the same result next week!”