Bohemians notched up a hat-trick of victories over Longford Town in a dress rehearsal for Sunday week's cup final. Bohs were always on top against a Town side which had several regulars missing through injury. Bohs needed this win to keep them in touch with Shelbourne at the top of the table, and it seems Sunday is the crunch day for both teams.
The visitors took control from the start. In the thirteenth minute, Glen Crowe got past Sean Riordan. He crossed the ball to Trevor Molloy, who amazingly shot the ball wide despite having an open goal to shoot into. However, they opened the scoring three minutes later. Mark Rutherford did well to put the ball through to Crowe, and having struck the bottom right hand post, the ball went into the back of the net. Town had a chance on goal in the 20th minute, through Stephen Kelly, but Wayne Russell gathered well.
Six minutes later, Bohs got their second goal. A corner by Paul Byrne eventually found it ways to the feet of Dave Hill who slammed the ball home. Twelve minutes from half-time Longford Town pulled a goal back with a superb free-kick from 25 yards by Stewart Holt. The home side had chances after that, but Robbie Farrell and Keith O'Connor just failed to hit the target for Longford Town. The game was over 10 minutes after the restart, when Longford Town goalkeeper Kevin McCormack pulled Crowe down in the box and Molloy blasted home the spot-kick. Vinnie Perth had a shot near the end, but Bohs had done enough to gather all three points in Town's last home game of the season.
The match may have been a fair contest on the pitch, but several Bohemians fans had to be escorted from Flancare Park after they fired missiles onto the pitch. The Gardaí were called and quickly restored order. The players remained unaffected as Roddy Collins's men dominated the game from start to finish. (PA)
Filed by Greg McKevitt
