Dundalk 4
Longford Town 0
Niall Newberry reports from Oriel Park
FOUR GOALS IN ten second half minutes ensured Dundalk’s passage into the second round of the Extra.ie FAI Cup as they overcame Longford Town 4-0 at Oriel Park.
Stephen O’Donnell, serving a one-match suspension, would have been frustrated as he observed from the TV gantry in the first half, but a second-half brace from Greg Sloggett, along with goals from Patrick Hoban and Joe Adams, sealed Dundalk’s place in the next-round draw.
Dundalk dominated throughout and created the first opening on three minutes, when Steven Bradley skipped past the challenge of a couple of Longford defenders before playing it into Sloggett, but he scuffed his attempt wide of Luke Dennison’s post.
Hoban thumped a header wide from Keith Ward’s left-field cross, and not long after that, the Dundalk captain again tried his luck, skiing an effort miles over the top.
Hoban again could have found the net when he fired narrowly off target after it dropped to him – a chance that arose following some good work by debutant Runar Hauge.
Having only joined The Lilywhites on a loan deal from Hibernian on Wednesday, Norwegian winger Hauge saw his speculative shot go straight into the arms of Dennison.
Indeed, perhaps the best chance of the first half came on 32 minutes through the lively Hauge, whose cross was diverted wide by Ward when it looked easier to hit the target.
Right before the half-time break, Ward floated a corner from the right which was headed on by Andy Boyle to the back post for Bradley, who then proceeded to head off the post.
Dundalk almost broke the deadlock seconds after the restart when Hoban’s cross from the right was flicked on by Ward at the near post, forcing Dennison into a good save.
Longford’s resistance was finally broken on 58 minutes when Joe Adams, from Bradley’s neat pass, forced Dennison to push straight into the path of Sloggett to make it 1-0.
The floodgates started to open after that, and Dundalk made it 2-0 on 61 minutes as Hoban blasted a header home after getting on the end of a good cross from Bradley.
Indeed, two minutes later, it was 3-0 thanks to substitute Adams, and he inside the area fired past Dennison, who did get a touch, but to no avail as Dundalk put the game to bed.
Man of the match Sloggett was credited with the assist for that goal, and he completed the rout on 68 minutes when he poked home from a Ryan O’Kane ball from the left.
Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Lewis Macari (John Mountney 70), Sam Bone, Andy Boyle, Darragh Leahy; Greg Sloggett (John Martin 70), Paul Doyle; Steven Bradley, Keith Ward (Joe Adams 54), Runar Hauge (Ryan O’Kane 54); Patrick Hoban (David McMillan 70).
Longford Town: Luke Dennison; Shane Elworthy, Mick McDonnell, Michael Barker, Dylan Barnett (Ben Lynch 75); Brandon McCann (Karl Chambers 56), Aaron Robinson (Matthew O’Brien 75), Dean McMenamy; Kian Corbally; Jordan Adeyemo (Darren Clarke 62), Sam Verdon (Adam Verdon 62).
Referee: Alan Patchell
Attendance: 1,576
FAI Cup First Round Results
UCD 3-0 Cockhill Celtic
Treaty United 5-0 Usher Celtic
Dundalk 4-0 Longford Town
Drogheda United 5-1 Athlone Town
Bray Wanderers 0-3 Shelbourne
Maynooth University Town 2-1 Villa FC
Bangor Celtic 0-4 Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps 1-3 Bohemians