Updated at 08.00
Longford Town 0
Dundalk 2
DUNDALK CONTINUED THEIR quest to retain the SSE Airtricity Premier Division title with a close cut victory away to Longford Town on Saturday evening.
Daryl Horgan was the stand out player for the away team as he scored the opening goal and then provided for John Mountney to seal the win late on.
The first-half was dominated by Horgan who found a large amount of space on the left hand side with Pat Sullivan struggling to keep track of the Dundalk man.
Horgan linked up well with Ronan Finn but his shots matched by Paul Skinner in the Town goal who soaked up the majority of the pressure.
Longford came closest to opening the scoring before the break when Gary Rogers received a short back pass with Stephen Rice jumping on the chance but the ex-Sligo Rovers player cleared his lines just in the nick of time as Dundalk suffered the scare.
Horgan eventually broke the deadlock shortly into the second-half. Skinner didn’t learn from an earlier attempt to catch him off his line, Horgan lifted the ball over the ‘keeper from 22 yards out and into the top corner.
The Town responded well to the pressure with David O’Sullivan finding the ball at his feet in close range from an oncoming corner. His shot was inches away as Richie Towell hacked off the line.
Don Cowan made his eagerly awaited return in a black and red shirt for the final 20 minutes to lift the crowd but his return proved too early as the striker was left frustrated in the attacking third.
Dundalk rounded off the performance perfectly on the 90th minute. Super sub John Mountney received a back heel from Horgan and powered his shot into the right hand corner from the edge of the area giving Skinner no chance.
Dundalk stay top and look good money to hold onto the title in these early stages.
LONGFORD TOWN: Paul Skinner, Jamie Mulhall (Don Cowan 71’), Martin Deady, Stephen Rice (c), Gary Shaw, Kevin O’Connor, Pat Sullivan, David O’Sullivan, Ben Mohamed, Pat Flynn, Mark Rossiter
DUNDALK: Gary Rogers, Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland (Paddy Barrett 74’), Andy Boyle, Chris Shields, Daryl Hargan, David McMillan, Ronan Finn (Stephen O’Donnell 84’), Dane Massey, Richie Towell, Darren Meenan
Man-of-the-match: Daryl Horgan
Referee: Paul Tuite