Longford Town 2
Derry City 0
LONGFORD TOWN REINTRODUCED themselves to the SSE Airtricity Premier Division with a zeal and fervour that Derry City couldn’t live with, marking their return to the top flight for the first time since 2016 with a 2-0 win at Bishopsgate.
The win was earned with goals in either half from Dylan Grimes and Joe Gorman, and it was undergirded by an irrepressible exuberance.
Longford started like a side who had spent the last five years coiled in a kind of obscurity, ready to spring back onto the main stage. They launched themselves into the game with a kind of ferocious energy: their midfielders snapped into tackles while their wingers zipped by full-backs.
Daire Doyle has kept faith with much of the squad that earned promotion, and seven of the side that started the play-off final win over Shels last year started here, supplementing them with Aarons Bolger and O’Driscoll – on loan from Cardiff and Mansfield – along with Paddy Kirk, once of Bohemians.
Joe Hodge was absent for Derry – he is back in Manchester recuperating from a back injury – but David Parkhouse made his return, with Wills Patching and Fitzgerald along with Danny Lafferty and James Akintunde making their bows for Derry.
Longford set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Aaron Bolger dropping in behind striker Rob Manley, who was the pivot around whom wingers Dean Byrne and Dylan Grimes worked. Longford played relatively directly and it almost had a return within two minutes, when Manley laid the ball off to Grimes, who curled a first-time shot just wide.
Grimes had his goal five minutes later, jinking into the penalty area, racing beyond Danny Lafferty and angling a low shot into the bottom corner. That Longford had three players in the box and lunging at the ball said much about their intent.
If Longford’s energy was nigh-demonic, Derry were docile: they were second to everything, creating little, and didn’t force Lee Stacey into making a save until Parkhouse hooked a volley at him a minute before the break.
Declan Devine’s second-half refrain from the touchline was “tempo, tempo” and while Derry improved, Longford’s work ethic remained undimmed. Aaron Bolger threw himself at a shot from the edge of the box and minutes later threaded a perfect through ball for Callum Thompson, neatly capturing the two elements underpinning Longford’s performance.
As a few wisps of fog closed in on Bishopsgate, so did Derry on the Longford defence, pinning them back. With Derry struggling to create any clear-cut chances, however, it only served to accentuate Longford’s counter-attacking threat, which led to their second goal.
Longford cleared a Derry set-piece and Aodh Dervin slid the ball through vacant space for Grimes, who skated clear only to be fouled by Patching, who stumbled into a tackle that yielded yellow in spite of a few Longford call for red. No matter: Dervin’s free-kick was palmed by Nathan Garside, with Joe Gorman forcing home the rebound.
Minutes later, Dervin smacked a 35-yard free-kick off the crossbar.
Derry ended the game with a line of five forwards, but to no impact: this game’s was Longford’s, who were still running ferociously as the fourth official signalled for four added minutes at the end of the game.
“Four minutes, you run your bollocks off for four more minutes” roared Dervin to everyone around him. He encapsulated Longford’s application, flying into tackles and covering ground with the zeal of a man who realises he is fulfilling his ambition of playing in the top flight with his hometown club.
Earlier, he took a ball flush in the face from point-blank range and he didn’t even break stride. Why focus on the pain when there is so much else to feel?
Longford Town: Lee Stacey; Karl Chambers, Aaron O’Driscoll, Joe Gorman, Paddy Kirk; Aodh Dervin, Dean Zambra (captain); Dylan Grimes, Aaron Bolger (Aaron Dobbs, 85;), Dean Byrne (Callum Thompson, 64′); Rob Manley (Aaron Robinson 85′)
Derry City: Nathan Garside; Darren Cole (Danny Lupano, HT) , Eoin Toal (Captain), Ciaran Coll, Danny Lafferty; Cameron McJannet (Joe Thomson, 81′), Ciaron Harkin, Will Patching; Will Fitzgerald (Carolaan McLaughlin, 80′), David Parkhouse, James Akintunde (Jack Malone, HT)
Referee: Adriano Reale