Longford

Goals win matches and unfortunately a piece of magic from the very impressive O'Sullivan secured all three points for the away side in Ferrycarrig tonight even though Longford had to play for an hour with ten. Shane Keegan surprisingly made a number of changes from the team which started against Harps with Graham, Clarkey, Jamie, CJ, Jimmy, Caolan, Eric, Crokey, Corkey, and with Rocks playing unusually behind Joey up front. First half wasn't great with few decent chances on either side. After five, Graham nearly sliced a back-pass into his own net but it was cleared up by CJ. Longford who were the brighter then had two efforts one a tame shot by Shaw which went straight to Grahanm and then a good effort by Salmon which went just wide. Joey then went past McDonagh who pulled him back just outside the box for a yellow for the Longford defender and CJ then picked up a yellow for a tackle on Gillespie. Best chance for the Youths came on 25 when Joey picked up an attempt pass from his own goal by Bennion, but he shot over from twelve yards as he came under pressure from a Town defender. With thirteen to go in the half, Gillespie got a straight red for raising his arms against Crokey who did well not to smack him back. Eric had a decent effort just on the blow for 0-0 at half-time.

Second half began with the Town playing 4-4-1 with O'Sullivan up front on his own and here he came into his own. After 8, however, he picked up a yellow for diving. On twelve, he picked up the ball and ran past two Youth's defenders before deftly flicking it past Graham for 1-0 to the Town. The Town then played two banks of four and defied the Youths to break them down and unfortunately they rarely looked like doing so. Five minutes after scoring his first, O'Sullivan then latched onto the ball again in the Youth's half and clipped the outside of the post with another effort. Youths had plenty of possession at this time but too many off-sides and through balls which were too long or floated crosses which rarely threatened meant that scoring chances were rare. Midway through the half, the stronger technical players - Deano, Glen and Shane Nolan - came on in a triple substitution and improved things a bit. With fifteen to go, however, Crokey had to clear a Nkololo effort off the line. Only chance for Wexford in last ten was a snap shot which Bennion had to get down low to push away for a corner.

Match then finished with 1-0 win for the away side. Wexford looked very shapeless for much of the game and the gap at centre-forward is still there. The substitutions could have come on earlier to try to break down the Longford ten and Shane Nolan in particular could have come on earlier. Best for Longford was O'Sullivan who looks a real find. About 220 there, including season tickets.

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Originally Posted by ForzaForth

the gap at centre-forward is still there.

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Aiden Keenan could fill this void easily imo. Had thought he was being brought in as a striker given he'd scored ~30 goals in his last season in Junior.

He also makes for an excellent target man. Joey playing off him and not the other way around would seem the better choice from what I've seen of both of them.