Longford Town FC vs Finn Harps - 14th April

[L.T.F.C.]

So, final game of the first phase. I'd say we should have no trouble in dealing with these, top it off with a home win. Have to say that 19 points out of a possible 21 is a fantastic return.

No idea about Hope. Judging from the nasty pic of his leg, the skin is split and will have to sit this one out.

Come on the Town! :D

[outspoken]

It wont be an easy game at all. Harps are a much improved team this season and with Pizza Hutton back Marshaling their back four they should be a tough nut to crack while the legend that is Kevin McHugh is still leading their line and his stunning 30 yarder against us in last seasons stunning 3-2 game in Flancare just shows what he can do!

If Hope cant play I'd expect Dowling to play CB where hes played quite well a few times this year apart from that it will probably be the same team that started against Limerick and if they play anywhere near those levels we should be more than ok.

Prediction - Another very very very very nervy 2-1 win against our good old friends from the hills of Donegal!

[Acornvilla]

Most importantly I should be able to make it to this one :D
I'd say 2-1 as well, we don't like to do things the easy way.

[Frank76]

Would Haverty at centre back not be an option with James or Dowling at right full?

[Martinho II]

Would Haverty at centre back not be an option with James or Dowling at right full?

I much prefer havo at CB instead of Dowling.. dowling imo was poor the other nite against dundalk..
let collie james at right full and allow him the opportunity to attack when needs be..

[Cabs88]

Would Haverty at centre back not be an option with James or Dowling at right full?


Id imagine that will be the case if Des doesn't make it, Haverty will be centre back with either James / Dowling full back.
I hope cousins retains the 4-4-2 formation as I think it is more balanced, and gets the most of Bermingham up top, and does not leave Shaw isolated on his own... 4-3-3 seems good on paper but we didn't have the legs in midfield for a player to support shaw.

Looking forward to the game, hopefully a decent crowd will be in attendance, Harps wont be a pushover and they will feel they can get something from the game.. We are prone to conceding so id expect the attacking players will have to be on their game. I would love to see a comfortable 2 nil win, especially after last weeks result, but would take any win..

Come on the town!

[L.T.F.C.]

I think Havo should be centre back, with Dowling out at right full.

[outspoken]

I don't like Colly playing RB he's a fantastic midfielder and that's where he should stay...I think Dowling is still finding his feet after coming back from injury but let's give him a go at RB!

[harpstilidie]

Don't think yous will have much of a problem tonight. We have been poor defensively so far this season, Hutton has helped when he has come in though with his talking and experience.

I'd snap your hands off for a point right now. Can't see it though.

[outspoken]

Many of ye coming down?

[RonnieB]

Would take a 1-0. We don't keep too many clean sheets though...

[harpstilidie]

Many of ye coming down?

Wouldn't think so. We had buses to both Limerick and Athlone but the bus had to be cancelled for this one due to lack of numbers.

I'd hazard a guess at 20?

[outspoken]

All talk of Dowling playing RB or CB can be forgotten about now because it turns out hes injured (according to Extratime.ie)
That leaves us very short back there with Nial O'Reilly still out however, I didn't see any mention of Flood but I'd guess he's still out...Hope rated 50-50 I very much doubt he will play and anyone who saw his picture on Twitter will know why he had to get 3 plastic stitches and as I said before the knee can be one of the worse places to get a cut like that. Looks like we might have to play Colly at RB.

[Town Legend]

Looking forward to the game tonight (but every week I'm looking forward to the games!) Last couple of seasons I've been going to Flancare in hope more so than expectation but this season sees that reversed. However, I feel tonight will be a very tricky game and over the course of the 4 rounds I think Harps will be one of the toughest teams we'll meet this year. The injuries seem to be building up although I think I seen Craig Walsh out doing a warm up last Tuesday which is a bit of good news. Hope will be a big loss at centre back although Haverty is an able deputy in there. If Cousins goes 4-4-2 I think Haverty will be centre back with James at right full. Kirby will be paired on the opposite wing by Duffy or Purdy although Sean Skelly could be pushing for a starting slot also. I'm going for a tense 2-1 win with Kirbs and Salmo to grab the goals!

[L.T.F.C.]

Good call on Kirby anyway! 1-0!

[L.T.F.C.]

Balls!

[Sam_Heggy]

Balls!

:) Didn't see that coming.

[L.T.F.C.]

No one did really. Ah well. Still top after the first phase will do grand for me.

[Town Legend]

Absolute disgraceful refereeing. Hyland played the ball and got a straight red!! I don't know who was worse, the ref for giving it or the linesman who had a clear view and didn't over rule the ref.....although after the ref over ruling his decision twice before he played it safe!

[L.T.F.C.]

Harps had 21 frees tonight.

[rossi_eire]

What odds for a 3-1 scoreline at half time?? I thought it would be a comfortable nite for d town.... Longford couldn't keep the ball after red card. With Salmon leaving the pitch earlier and Gillespie being subbed (Kirby aside) there was no one to keep the ball. Deans was solid, Shaw worked hard as usual and James was impressive although he is inclined to over do the speculative passes. Bad result but we're still top of the league, with a very winnable game next w'end and the return of Hope things still look bright!

[Sam_Heggy]

What odds for a 3-1 scoreline at half time??

T'was 22/1 with Paddypower.

We're top scorers in the league and have won our last 3 league games, I hope teams keep thinking we'll be a soft touch.

[Town Legend]

I don't think anyone would regard Harps as a soft touch. Harps always give us a tough game no matter how good or bad they are especially up in Ballybofey. The Town just had an off night (hopefully) but the referees decision to send off Hyland was a disgrace. I felt we would of got the win (just about!) only for that decision.

[outspoken]

Yes the referee was absolutely disgraceful as he always is (has to be the worst in the league) but we were awful! I dont know whether last weeks great win took a lot out of them or what but we never played football all night it was all mindless hoofball. That was very strange because even though we lost Tuesday night we played lovely football and gave a great effort. Kirbs was the only midfielder who tried to keep it on the deck while I thought Chris Deans had a good game at centre half.

A lot of people very disappointed with Gary Shaw's performance he just doesn't seem to use his strength for a big man and doesn't seem to get off the ground but again I think last weeks effort may have taken a lot out of him and the lads because last week he was superb absolutely ran himself into the ground.

A decent enough crowd out and a fair few travelling Harps so very disappointed to lose because with EL CLASSICO on in Spain next Saturday night that will drain away at the gate significantly for the game against Mervue.....I'm very nervous ahead of that game it's these type of games we always seem to slip up in.

[De Town]

Harps were the better team on the night, but....we were 1-0 up and relatively comfortable, even though we were playing some rubbish football. The referee's decision to get them back into the game was a disgrace. Once they scored straight from that free kick there was only 1 winner, although their 2nd goal was a poxy deflection and their third was them catching us on the break when we had most of our players up field. We didn't deserve to win, but without the referee's intervention there's a fair chance we would have won imo.

@outspoken's point about the crowd, it was absolutely terrible considering the run of form we were on.

[outspoken]

Thought there was around 400 there according to ET it was only around 300 considering we got crowds like that playing for nothing last season your dead right it's an awful attendance but what can we do? Like I said I'm very worried about next weeks gate with the Spanish Classico being moved forward 24 hours to Saturday with a 7pm KO. I think we should consider moving it to Friday night.

[RonnieB]

Only in Ireland would "el classico" being on T.V. be deemed a threat to people attending a match.

[outspoken]

I know it's a sad society we live in but any excuse not to support your own league.

[Martinho II]

I was speaking to someone after the game who was on the sidelines .. the reason hylo miskicked was that the ball hit a massive divot and threw it off course.. no excuses though for the bad performance.. we were terrible.. besides the sending off, deans got elbowed off the ball and nothing was done and havo was shoved off the ball for their third..why the ref didnt blow we never know. unbelievably that was harps first win in flancare since the league cup quarter final win in nov 2000. i was very impressed with harps and think they will finish high..

[Pauro 76]

Only in Ireland would "el classico" being on T.V. be deemed a threat to people attending a match.

El Classico on the telly? Fair play to RTE for showing Longford Town v Athlone Town! ;-)

[outspoken]

I see the FA have moved the FA cup final on May 5th to a 5-15 ko the same night we play Waterford at home thats another b*lls breaker for the gate!

[daithi]

I was speaking to someone after the game who was on the sidelines .. the reason hylo miskicked was that the ball hit a massive divot and threw it off course.. no excuses though for the bad performance.. we were terrible.. besides the sending off, deans got elbowed off the ball and nothing was done and havo was shoved off the ball for their third..why the ref didnt blow we never know. unbelievably that was harps first win in flancare since the league cup quarter final win in nov 2000. i was very impressed with harps and think they will finish high..

The ball did hit a divot and took a big deflection off it but I have to say the pitch in general was in a poor state. It seemed very hard and the players looked like they were struggling to play the ball on the deck. The refs decision to send off Hyland was a shocker and we just fell apart after that......

[Martinho II]

exactly.. I know our chief groundsman has bein ill recently which might explain what happened to the pitch.. I hope that the pitch will improve by the weekend considerin the amount of rain that has fallen over last 24 hrs ...

[Town Legend]

I was behind the goals and the ball definately hit (an almighty) divot! I have to admit I thought myself Haverty was pushed off the ball for the third goal but from what I had seen earlier I thought my eyes were deceiving me!! And their second goal got a major deflection!! Nothing was going to go our way Sat night!

[outspoken]

Oh theres no doubt it hit a diviot but funny enough I thought the pitch was grand Saturday night we've played on much worse.

[thelocal]

ye outspoken, was on the pitch beforehand, its the best its been all season to be honest, believe it or not. Must heve been a fresh divot, fairly big at that.