20.00 30 May 2014 -
Referee:
League Preview: Longford Town -v- Shamrock Rovers B
- Macdara Ferris
- Fri, May 30 2014
LONGFORD TOWN
Longford Town are looking to make it three wins from three in the league when they welcome Shamrock Rovers’ First Division team to City Calling Stadium on Friday night. The match, switched from Saturday to avoid clashing with Ireland’s game with Italy in Craven Cottage, sees third place Town take on seventh placed Rovers.
Tony Cousins’ men lost 2-0 to Bohemians in the EA Sports Cup midweek. It was a damaging defeat for Longford as they will miss both Noel Haverty and Kevin O’Connor due to suspension following their red cards against Bohs. Haverty received his marching orders after only 20 minutes and his team were down to nine men for the final half an hour of the game after O’Connor got his second yellow card.
It will mean the home side won’t be as fresh as the visitors who haven’t been in action since Sunday. While the Hoops’ First Division team aren’t allowed compete in the cup competitions, Rovers recently used their B-team squad in the 1-0 Leinster Senior Cup semi-final defeat to St. Patrick’s Athletic.
SHAMROCK ROVERS B
Colin Hawkins’ Hoops side suffered their first defeat in six games last week when they lost 2-0 to Wexford Youths. It was a loss that left them second from bottom in the table but only five points off second place in this competitive SSE Airtricity First Division.
It will be a tough examination for Rovers as they travel to play Longford but they should have a full First Division squad available to them. With the Leaving Certificate examination starting next week, that mightn’t be the case for Rovers’ young squad when they play Waterford in Tallaght on Tuesday.
Ryan Doolan is available for selection after the combative midfielder had to serve a yellow card suspension last week. The Hoops have missed Chris Lyons for a number of weeks due to a calf injury and he may well miss out again on Friday.
Referee: Kevin O’Regan.
MATCH STATS
When the teams met earlier in the season in Tallaght, the Hoops B team earned their first ever win. David O’Sullivan had cancelled out Chris Lyons’ earlier goal for Rovers but Daniel Purdy popped up in injury time to score the winner for the Hoops against ten man Longford. He was able to exploit the space available after Pat Flynn’s late red card for the Town.
In that game Longford Town had six former Shamrock Rovers players in the squad that former Hoop and current Town boss Tony Cousins brought to Tallaght. Don Cowan, Stephen Rice, Pat Flynn, Pat Sullivan, Lorcan Shannon and Rhys Gorman all had previously had spells with Rovers. Meanwhile Corrie Treacy and Daniel Purdy will be in the away dressingroom on Friday having played with the home club last season.
It is four years since the two teams played each other in competitive action in Longford. The Town gave the Hoops a real fright in their fourth round FAI Cup tie, with Rovers winning 2-1 en-route to the 2010 final.
BETTING
Longford Town 4/11; draw 3/1; Shamrock Rovers 15/2;
PREDICTION
2-1 home win.
Longford Town
Injured: Rhys Gorman.
Suspended: Noel Haverty, Kevin O’Connor, Chris Deans
Shamrock Rovers
Injured: Unavailable.
Doubtful: Chris Lyons, Sean Heaney, Thomas Tiernan.
Suspended: None.
About Macdara Ferris
Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl …