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Longford Town high on confidence after achieving first part of play-off mission

Longford boss Daire Doyle and goalscorer Aodh Dervin celebrate at Belfield
Longford boss Daire Doyle and goalscorer Aodh Dervin celebrate at Belfield

Daire Doyle's Longford Town side are one win away from the promised land of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, and the bullish boss believes his side can achieve the feat against an as yet unknown opponent. 

Longford returned to Belfield less than a week on from their thrilling 3-2 win over UCD to face Galway United in the First Division play-off decider. 

Aodh Dervin capped a phenomenal display with a goal while Karl Chambers was also on target for a Longford side that ran out worthy 2-1 winners with Galway snatching a late consolation via Killian Brouder's header. 

Ollie Horgan was an engrossed onlooker, with his Finn Harps side the likeliest candidate to face the midlanders in the face-off between the Premier Division and First Division to secure a spot in the top flight next season, but Shelbourne or Derry City could yet provide the opposition. 

Despite not knowing the identity of their upcoming rivals, Doyle believes his charges will have a significant edge in terms of confidence. 

"We've one game to go against a Premier Division team who haven't won many games this year," he told RTÉ Sport. 

"Whereas we'll go in on a great win tonight and a great win last week.

"We've won nine games in the season on top of that already. That's going to stand to us going into the play-off."

If Doyle was pleased with Longford's dominant first-half display, he was just as satisfied by the composure and determination his side showed after the restart, when Galway rallied.

"In the first half, I think we were excellent," he said. "Some of the football and the workrate we put in there, I don't think Galway could cope with our performance in the first half. 

"It changed in the second half to a really rough game. 

"That' something we prepared the lads for. Yes, we can play the way we played in the first half, but we needed to be able to perform like that in the second half when we knew they were going to come out all guns blazing. 

"But the lads were great and I'm delighted with them."

Dervin echoed his manager's sentiments, saying: "We'll watch the games on Monday and have one eye on it and keep going. We don't really mind who we play either."

"Reflecting on the nature of the win, he said: "We dug deep, we scrapped, and that's what this league is all about. And they're very, very good at it. 

"Daire keeps telling me to shoot more. And I shot and I scored it. I've never felt something like this in my life."

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