Yet another draw against Waterford FC as Longford Town pick up a precious point

Waterford FC . . . 2     Longford Town . . . 2

Town captain Shane Elworthy returned to the side after his recent injury while the July transfer window arrivals Dylan Hand, Jordan Adeyemo, Adam Wixted and Lewis Temple all started against the strongly fancied full-time opposition.

Local star Aodh Dervin may has departed for Galway United but the new-look Longford team showed tremendous resilience to share the spoils, even though they had numerical advantage for most of the second half after Waterford defender Giles Phillips was shown a red card in the Town penalty incident in the 51st minute.  

After Ronan Coughlan went close with a chance on three minutes when he dragged a right-footed shot wide of the left-hand post, it was the home side that struck the front three minutes later. Shane Griffin picked out the run of Roland Idowu out on the right, and he drilled a low right-footed shot past Jack Brady from 12 yards.

The crossbar denied Longford the equalising goal on 12 minutes when Adam Wixted whipped in a right-wing free that found the run of the unchallenged Aaron Walsh at the back post, but his close-range header came crashing back off the woodwork with Waterford keeper Paul Martin beaten. 

Longford were back on level terms six minutes later when Beineon O’Brien-Whitmarsh’s cross was cleared by Shane Griffin into the path of Gary Armstrong, who volleyed a first-time right-footed shot to the left-hand corner past a helpless Martin.

The Blues regained the lead from the penalty spot on 21 minutes when left-full Ryan Burke was fouled in the area by Longford’s Viktor Serdeniuk that saw referee Daniel Murphy point to the spot, and Ronan Coughlan dispatched the spot-kick past keeper Jack Brady. 

As the Fleetwood Town first-team watched on in the stand, their on-loan teammate Barry Baggley went close to netting a cracking free-kick on 32 minutes when he stepped over the ball after a foul on Idowu, but his effort came back off the underside of the bar with Ronan Coughlan’s rebound cleared off the line by Walsh. 

The woodwork denied the home side once again with the first attack of the second-half on 48 minutes when Coughlan got space out on the left before crossing into the centre for Romeo Akachukwu, but his close-range strike came back off the underside of the bar with the Blues claiming that the ball had crossed the line.

There was a telling moment at the other end as the Blues were reduced to ten men and Longford awarded a penalty three minutes later. Jordan Adeyemo was played clear on goal before he went down under a challenge from Giles Phillips, and after hesitating the referee Murphy pointed to the spot and issued a red card to the Blues skipper with Beineon O’Brien-Whitmarsh burying the penalty past keeper Martin. 

A big chance fell the way of the hosts on 76 minutes when Roland Idowu released Atakayi down the right-side, who in turn put the ball on a plate for Connor Parsons, but he somehow blazed over the crossbar from close-range much to his own disbelief. 

Former Blues player Derek Daly brought a fine save out of Paul Martin on 86 minutes when he tried to beat the netminder at his near post with a rasping left-footed strike that was turned around the posts.

The RSC rose from their seats when they saw Ronan Coughlan break clear on goal three minutes into second-half injury-time after he turned over possession, but the ace attacker couldn’t direct his effort on target as the Blues had to settle for a point.

At the other end just moments earlier Joshua Giurgi crossed a dangerous ball into the Waterford six yards box but Beineon O’Brien-Whitmarsh was just a little too late getting forward  to win the game for Longford Town.  

WATERFORD FC: Paul Martin, Niall O’Keeffe, Giles Philips, Drew Baker, Ryan Burke, Shane Griffin, Barry Baggley, Romeo Akachukwu (Killian Cantwell 53 mins), Connor Parsons (Christie Pattisson 80 mins), Roland Idowu, Ronan Coughlan.

LONGFORD TOWN: Jack Brady; Shane Elworthy (Mohammed Boudiaf 64 mins), Aaron Walsh (Cristian Magerusan 80 mins), Dylan Hand, Kyle O’Connor (Derek Daly 64 mins); Lewis Temple, Gary Armstrong, Viktor Serdeniuk, Adam Wixted; Beineon O’Brien-Whitmarsh, Jordan Adeyemo (Joshua Giurgi 80 mins). 

Referee: Daniel Murphy (Dublin).

Attendance: 1420