Sporting Fingal 3-0 Longford Town

Sporting Fingal had to be patient against a resolute Longford Town side but their persistence paid off at Morton Stadium as they got the win they needed to go into third spot thanks to three second half goals.

After peppering the Longford goal in the first half without finding the back of Danny O’Leary’s net, Fingal’s opener arrived in fortuitous circumstances three minutes after the restart.

Shaun Williams rescued what looked like a hopeless cause by muscling Brian McCarthy off the ball at the end line on the right side and his wicked cross deflected off Stephen Gough to leave O’Leary wrong-footed.

Gary O’Neill had been foiled twice by O’Leary in the opening half but he had better luck on 62 minutes when he scored his first goal since joining the North Dubliners in the close season.

Conan Byrne made the groundwork down the right flank by running into space and his cut-back found the unmarked O’Neill who smashed the ball high into the roof of the net.

Longford were restricted to shots from distance as they spent most of the game attempting to shackle Fingal’s powerhouse midfield duo of Williams and Robert Bayly and the best they could fashion was a shot in either half by Carmine Russo and Darren McKenna which both flew over the bar.

It was left to substitute Eamon Zayed to wrap up the points deep into injury time when he ran onto Bayly’s through ball, rounded O’Leary and tapped into an empty net.

To view highlights, click here: http://fingalcommunitytv.com/highlightsandgoals.html

Sporting Fingal (4-3-3): Quigley; Gannon, P. Byrne, Paisley, Fitzgerald; Bayly, McFaul (James 76), Williams; C. Byrne (Corcoran 86), O’Neill (Zayed 79), Kirby

Longford Town (4-4-2): O’Leary; Kenny, B. McCarthy, Gough, Cronin; Murphy (N. McKenna 49), Russo (Jinks 65), McMillan, J. McCarthy; Glynn (Lynch 72), D. McKenna.

Referee: S. Grant (Wexford).

Attendance: 1026.