By Gavin McLaughlin at Oriel Park
Dundalk 1-0 Longford Town
Daryl Horgan’s 16th-minute goal was enough for Dundalk to open their title defence with all three points but the champions were pushed all the way by newly promoted Longford Town at Oriel Park.
Horgan’s strike won the game but equally as important was Gary Rogers’ last-gasp save to deny Town centre-forward Gary Shaw from securing what would have been an unlikely point for Tony Cousins’ side.
Dundalk named an unchanged line up, Stephen Kenny keeping faith with the XI that beat St Patrick’s Athletic in the President’s Cup final six days earlier.
The suspended Darren Meenan and the injured Stephen O’Donnell were the only ones unavailable for the selection.
Longford Town, making their first visit to Oriel Park since 2008, were able to call on players with a wealth of experience in their team, with former title winners Conor Powell, Pat Flynn, Pat Sullivan and Stephen Rice all named in the Longford lineup.
The Premier Division new boys looked assured early on with Powell providing an outlet on the left and a couple of early deliveries tested the Dundalk central defensive pairing of Andy Boyle and Brian Gartland.
The champions, however, opened the midlanders up with a snappy attack after 16 minutes that led to the first goal of the 2015 season.
John Mountney set Ronan Finn away on the right and the former Shamrock Rovers man’s low ball across goal was swept home by Horgan.
The visitors were dealt another blow 13 minutes later when goalkeeper Paul Hunt limped off with an injury. Former Athlone Town netminder Paul Skinner came on to replace him but he was relatively unemployed as Dundalk failed to build on the early lead.
The hosts cranked up the pressure in the early stages of the second half.
The visitors were dealt another blow 13 minutes later when goalkeeper Paul Hunt limped off with an injury. Former Athlone Town netminder Paul Skinner came on to replace him but he was relatively unemployed as Dundalk failed to build on the early lead.
The hosts cranked up the pressure in the early stages of the second half.
Dane Massey’s knock-down for David McMillan in the 53rd minute looked like it would lead to the second goal but Skinner did enough to block and the ball bounced away for a corner.
Another set piece five minutes later had Longford in trouble as Andy Boyle’s thumping header crashed back off the woodwork after taking a deflection off a red and black shirt on the way.
Horgan looked the most likely supplier of a second goal and it was another of his deliveries that had the hosts on the ropes, Brian Gartland seeing his header hacked off the line.
Kenny introduced Kurtis Byrne for David McMillan in the 77th minute and the substitute was sniffing for a goal three minutes later, but Skinner gathered Horgan’s curling effort at the second attempt.
Dundalk looked like they were finding their rhythm at this stage and the best move of the match arrived in the 85th minute. Richie Towell started a flowing move that involved Mountney and Kurtis Byrne with the latter dropping a header back into Towell’s path only for Skinner to save.
With the clock ticking down, Longford threw men forward and substitute David O’Sullivan showed great strength to get a shot away on the left of the penalty area that Rogers did well to gather.
Centre-back William Tyrell then curled an effort to Rogers’ left that the Meathman saved but his best contribution came in stoppage time when he showed great positioning to tip Shaw’s goalbound effort on to the bar.
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Chris Shields, Richie Towell; John Mountney, Ronan Finn (Paddy Barrett 89), Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (Kurtis Byrne 77).
Subs not used: Shane Grimes, Jake Kelly, Ciaran O’Connor, Georgie Poynton, Gabriel Sava (GK).
Longford Town: Paul Hunt (Paul Skinner 29); Pat Sullivan, Pat Flynn, William Tyrell, Conor Powell, Lorcan Shannon (David O’Sullivan 61), Stephen Rice, Mark Salmon, Kevin O’Connor, Martin Deady (Aymen Ben Mohamed 74); Gary Shaw.
Subs not used: Tom Morris, Kaleem Simon, Mark Rossiter, Rhys Gorman.
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
