Men’s Match Report: Longford Town (A)

Athlone made the short trip to Longford on the 18th of May 2024 playing out a 1-1 draw against Longford.

Dario made three changes to the team that beat Bray with German Fuentes Rodriguez and Aaron Connolly returning after suspension, and Oisin Duffy who was struggling with injuries in recent weeks returning to captain the side.

Both teams started well and enjoyed spells of possession. Athlone created the first real chance of the game when in the 10th minute, Ross Fay was caught in possession by Gideon Tetteh who played a lovely pass to Dean Ebbe who had a bit of time and space and he turned well but his shot was always going over the bar.

Athlone had another shot shortly after when an Enda Minogue clearance was flicked on by Ebbe to Amardo Oakley who ran at goal but his shot was narrowly over.

Longford were next to test the Athlone Defence when from a Conor Crowley free kick out on the right-hand side his cross found the head of Francis Campbell who had a lot of work to do but couldn’t his shot on target, going narrowly past the post. It was a quiet enough first half and we went in at the break scoreless.

Longford started the second half as the brighter of the two teams, they enjoyed a spell of possession which saw Shane Elworthy run at the Athlone defence and his scooped pass over the defence found Jordan Adeyemo but his header was on target but lacked the power to threaten Enda Minogue’s goal.

In the 55th minute Athlone had a throw-in just inside the Longford half, Torre found Dylan Hand, who played it out wide to captain Oisin Duffy. His forward ball found Oakley who turned brilliantly, and made his way into the Longford Town box, he cut the ball back to Gideon Tetteh who’s placed shot wrong footed Jack Brady to put the visitors 1-0 up.

Brian Torre had a corner from the right in the 63rd minute. His cross wasn’t fully cleared by the Longford defence and Dylan Hand found Carl Mujaguzi, but his header was narrowly over. Fair play to the young Longford fan who was keeping Torre company and the crowd entertained with his antics.

It could have been two nil in the 68th minute when a poor clearance by Brady in the Longford goal was only as far as Mujaguzi who crossed deep to Aaron Connolly who headed back across goal to Ebbe who laid it off to Tetteh who shot low from 12 yards but Brady made up for his mistake with a wonderful save down low to his right to keep the score 1-0.
Oisin Hand somehow in the 88th minute stopped Jamal Ibrahim scoring when he headed the ball off the line, Athlone would come to regret not being able to finish these chances, as Longford went down the other end of the pitch and equalised.

Guilherme Rego Priosti chipped a ball to the left-hand side of the box and Dean O Shea headed the ball across the goal to Emmanuel James who made no mistake from 6 yards. It was a real hammer blow for Athlone who had done enough to take home the three points. It finished 1-1 and a point a piece for both teams.

Following match day fourteen sees Athlone stay third on twenty-six points and Longford stay ninth on eleven points.

Athlone Town AFC: Enda Minogue, German Fuentes Rodriguez, Daniel McKenna, Dylan Hand, Aaron Connolly, Dean Ebbe, Carl Mujaguzi (Matthew Leal 79’), Amardo Oakley (Jamar Campion-Hinds 67’), Oisin Duffy ©, Brian Torre (Jarlath Jones 92’), Gideon Tetteh (Jamal Ibrahim 79’)

Unused Substitutes: Andrew Stuart Trainor, Noah Van Geenen, Divine Izekor, Roscoe Rubinstein, Ciaran Nolan

Bookings: McKenna (91)

Attendance: 450

AthloneTownAFC.ie Man of The Match: Gideon Tetteh