Drogheda United 0-3 Longford Town
Mark Salmon struck twice against one of his former clubs as Longford Town picked up a convincing and fully deserved win over Drogheda United in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
In only the second minute the Boynesiders were playing catch-up after David O’Sullivan fired home from close range, and Drogheda were fortunate not to fall further behind before the interval as Michael Schlingermann was much the busier of the keepers.
Longford eventually doubled their lead on 59 minutes as Ayman Ben Mohamed and David O’Sullivan combined to tee up Salmon.
Drogheda created a couple of good openings in reply, with Lloyd Buckley heading over from close range and Daryl Kavanagh chipping over the bar after a mistake by Longford defender Pat Flynn, but the Drogs then had Sean Thornton sent off and Salmon fired home from close range eight minutes from time.
The Midlanders made a dream start when they broke the deadlock after barely 90 seconds, Gary Shaw teeing up strike partner O’Sullivan who dinked the ball over Drogs keeper Schlingermann from eight yards.
Longford seemed to be targeting young Drogheda right-back Sam McGowan, who had made his senior debut four nights earlier, and in the 10th minute Shaw was through on goal, only to see his shot deflected behind for a corner kick.
O’Sullivan almost doubled his personal tally when he made a yard of space for himself before shooting low from 18 yards and Schlingermann had to go down smartly to gather.
The Boynesiders offered nothing going forward until the 18th minute when Jason Marks ran onto a Kavanagh pass and crossed brilliantly for Michael Daly, whose rifled shot struck the side-netting.
But Longford strikers O’Sullivan and Shaw continued to ask serious questions of an inexperienced home back four and in the 34th minute the latter controlled a pass from his strike partner and ballooned over the bar from close range.
Coming up to half-time there was little sign of a breakthrough from a Drogheda side whose ball retention was poor at times, and the usually influential play-maker Thornton was well policed by the visitors.
On the restart Longford were the first to threaten again as the tricky Ayman Ben Mohamed weaved his way into the box, only to fire straight at Schlingermann.
But Drogheda should have levelled on 52 minutes. Tiarnan Mulvenna worked a great one-two with Kavanagh and drifted into the box, but he delayed his shot a fraction of a second and when the ball ran towards Marks his shot was blocked, with home players claiming hand-ball against the covering defender.
It was a costly miss, for in the 59th minute Longford gave themselves a comfortable cushion. The impressive Mohamed was the instigator as he drove at the heart of Drogheda’s defence before releasing O’Sullivan and his cross was diverted to the net by Salmon.
Longford keeper Paul Skinner was finally tested on 62 minutes when he pushed a close-range Mulvenna hook-shot round the post and two minutes later Buckley headed a corner kick just over the bar for the home side.
Another good Drogheda chance went begging when Longford defender Flynn misjudged the flight of a Schlingermann clearance and the ball ran through to Kavanagh who lifted the ball over the bar.
The Boynesiders’ night got considerably worse when Thornton went in for a challenge in midfield with his studs showing and received a straight red card from referee Anthony Buttimer 14 minutes from time.
Longford took advantage of the extra to bag a third goal on 82, Salmon turning home a cross from Kaleem Simon at the near post.
Drogheda United: Micheal Schlingermann; Sam McGowan, Lloyd Buckley, Alan Byrne, Joe Gorman; Cathal Brady (Lee Duffy 71), Michael Daly, Sean Thornton, Jason Marks; Daryl Kavanagh (Carl Walshe 85); Tiarnan Mulvenna (Stephen Maher 78).
Subs not used: Sean Brennan, Mark Hughes, Robert O’Reilly, Dylan Connolly.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Pat Sullivan, Pat Flynn, Mark Rossiter (Jamie Mulhall 85), Conor Powell; Mark Salmon, Kevin O’Connor, Stephen Rice, Ayman Ben Mohamed (Kaleem Simon 77); David O’Sullivan (Rhys Gorman 77), Gary Shaw.
Subs not used: Martin Deady, Lorcan Shannon, William Tyrrell, Dan Henderson.
Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).
