St Patrick’s Athletic knock Longford Town out of the FAI Cup in dramatic battle

Longford Town . . . 1   St Patrick’s Athletic . . . 2

In the end it was the Premier Division side who advanced to the last 16 with their influential playmaker Chris Forrester scoring the winning goal from a soft penalty in the 80th minute.

 Longford suffered a further setback moments later when Hand received a straight red card for a foul on Sam Curtis and both those defining decisions made by the referee Rob Hennessy were harsh, to say the least.

From the moment St Pat’s broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute after they finally found a way past the outstanding Town keeper Jack Brady, it was a cracking contest until the final whistle was eventually blown in the eighth minute of additional time. 

Brady made a string of great saves to keep Longford in contention for the possibility of a shock win and after he stopped a goalbound strike from Conor Carty, the ball broke kindly for Adam Murphy who finished his close range shot to the back of the net. 

The Town, to their great credit, came storming back in the search for the equaliser and after Cristian Magerusan had a shot saved by the St Pat’s keeper Dean Lyness, the post denied Joshua Giurgi in the 76th minute.

The introduction of no less than four substitutes all at the same time (72nd minute) injected new life into Longford and it was one of those replacements, Mohammed Boudiaf, who put the home side back on level terms with a tremendous strike from outside the box.

Then came the penalty incident as Dylan Hand was punished for supposedly fouling Curtis in the box and a minute later the same Town player was shown a dubious red card.

That hit Longford really hard and their tale of woe was complete when Jack Brady saw red after advancing beyond the box for a foul on the last man in another St Pat’s attack in their quest to score a third goal with time running out. 

And it almost materialised when effective substitute Jake Mulraney hit the post in the sixth additional minute as the 500 plus contingent of St Pat’s supporters went home happy. 

Longford Town were left to rue a glorious missed opportunity when Cristian Magerusan had a point-blank shot saved by the towering St Pat’s keeper in the early stages of the game (4th minute) and equally excellent was the home netminder Brady who produced a terrific stop to keep out a shot from Mark Doyle in the 25th minute.

The midlanders will now turn their attention back to the league, starting with the visit of Cobh Ramblers to Bishopsgate on Saturday night next (kick-off 7.30pm), but the manager Stephen Henderson must plan without suspended duo Dylan Hand and Jack Brady in the push for a place in the First Division promotion play-offs.  

LONGFORD TOWN: Jack Brady; Shane Elworthy, Aaron Walsh, Dylan Hand, Kyle O’Connor; Joshua Giurgi, Gary Armstrong, Viktor Serdeniuk, Derek Daly, James Doona; Cristian Magerusan.

Subs:- Olajuwon Adeyemo for Serdeniuk (injured); Jordan Adeyemo for O’Connor; Mohammed Boudiaf for Doona and Lewis Temple for Magerusan  (all in the 72nd minute); Jack Harrington for Giurgi (third minute of stoppage time).

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Dean Lyness; Sam Curtis, David Norman, John-Alan McGrath, Anthony Breslin; Jason McClelland, Adam Murphy, Chris Forrester, Jamie Lennon, Mark Doyle; Conor Carty. 

Subs:- Jake Mulraney for McClelland (56 mins); Joe Redmond for Murphy and Thomas Lonergan for Doyle (both in the 78th minute); Alex Nolan for Carty (third minute of stoppage time). 

Referee: Rob Hennessy.