FAI Cup semi-final/Longford Town - 0 Drogheda - 0: Regular followers of these two sides will hardly have been surprised by the outcome of yesterday's Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup semi-final at Flancare Park. This latest meeting between the two teams may have been disappointingly poor but this year's league encounter at the ground had also ended scoreless while both had required a couple of replays to make it to this game.
Drogheda's performance here suggests they may have the edge in tomorrow's replay but having lost at United Park by a goal twice already this season, the momentum may actually be with the cup holders who are aiming for a third appearance in the competition's decider in just five seasons.
"We've stretched it out almost as far as we possibly could have now with the replays against Rovers, Athlone and now these," said Alan Matthews who hasn't seen a Longford team of his lose at United Park during three years in charge at the club. "We could have played an awful lot better than we did today but the fact is we're still in the competition."
Not surprisingly, after a game in which his players had been on top almost from beginning to end, Paul Doolan was upbeat and chirpy too about the idea of United taking part in three televised games inside a week. "We were on the box today, we'll be on Tuesday and then we'll be on on Friday again," he grinned. "It's like Coronation Street." For the most part, though, yesterday's game wasn't quite as entertaining.
The conditions certainly didn't help with long downpours prior to kick-off leaving the pitch heavily soaked in places but even that couldn't be entirely blamed for the generally poor quality of a game. It might have been a good deal more memorable had somebody managed a goal in the opening half an hour.
Drogheda United adapted better to the heavy ground and began to produce some decent football. It was still close to half an hour though before Paul Doolan's side could muster a serious challenge on goal and when they did, courtesy of a powerful Gary Cronin shot from a tight angle down the left-hand side of the box, they were frustrated by a good reaction save by Stephen O'Brien.
Longford, relying much too heavily on crosses in the direction of their centre forwards, both of whom fared poorly in the air when they came up against either Stephen Gray or Danny O'Connor, struggled to make any sort of serious impact over the opening 45 minutes and half chances from a couple of late corners were as close as the hosts came to testing Gary Rogers before the interval.
United, on the other hand, enjoyed a strong spell after Cronin's initial effort and might well have taken the lead in the eight minutes or so that followed as first Declan O'Brien forced the Longford goalkeeper into action again and then Andy Myler beat him with a free from 20 metres only to his curling shot come crashing back off the right hand post.
The visiting side's dominance extended well into the second period and it was only after Matthews switched things around a bit, bringing on Graham Gartland and moving Alan Murphy from left back into midfield that the locals started to exert a little bit more control over things. Easily their best chance of the game came just three minutes from time when Murphy sent Seán Dillon racing clear of the Drogheda defence with a fine ball over the top and into space.
A Longford winner then would have been more than a little unfair and perhaps the potential injustice of it all crossed Dillon's mind as he lined up his shot for he sent it flying well over to ensure that Waterford's opponents in this year's final won't be known until tomorrow evening.
LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Murphy, Ferguson, Perth (Gartland, 65 mins), Prunty; Kirby (Martin, half-time), Dillon, Fitzgerald, Barrett; Lavine (Keegan, 58 mins), Baker.
DROGHEDA UNITED: Rogers; Flanagan, O'Connor, Gray, Sandvliet; McClare, Molloy, Lester, Cronin (Reilly, 88 mins); Myler, O'Brien (Rooney, 81 mns).
Referee: A Kelly (Dublin).
