Longford Town - 2 St Patrick's Athletic - 0 A speculative strike from Brian Byrne five minutes before the break paved the way for Longford Town's win in the FAI Cup final rematch in front of a 1,300 attendance at wet and windy Flancare Park last night.

Substitute Byrne had replaced injured Stephen Paisley midway through the half and could hardly believe his luck when his shot was completely misjudged by St Patrick's goalkeeper Christ Adamson to allow the ball drop into the top corner of the net.

Nothing really went right for the visitors, with the normally prolific striker Tony Bird scuffing a couple of good chances in the first half. And while they piled on the pressure in search of the equaliser in the second half, the Town defence stood firm.

However, Keith Foy was unlucky when driving a powerful free kick against the crossbar, and Barry Prenderville was denied by Longford goalkeeper Stephen O'Brien, who made a marvellous save in tipping the ball over the bar.

Just like the cup final at Lansdowne Road, Longford doubled their advantage late in the game when Alan Kirby crossed from the end line into the path of Eric Levine, who unselfishly laid the ball off to the completely unmarked Byrne who made no mistake from a few yards out to score his second goal.

LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien, Dillon, Ferguson, McGovern, Paisley (Byrne, 23 mins) Kirby, Murphy, Keogh, Prunty (Perth, half-time), Kelly (Francis, 80), Lavine.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Adamson, Khebir (O'Keeffe, 80 mins) Foley, Delaney, Foy, Prenderville, Osam, Dunne, Donnelly (Murphy, 61 mins), McPhee, Bird.

Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford)