League of Ireland Premier Division: Longford Town 3 Galway United 0: With Flancare Park crowds dwindling and points hard to come by, the midland outfit were dealt a further blow last night when they were comprehensively beaten by a confident Galway United.
Galway deserved their victory, the foundations for which were laid in the first half. Indeed, their raucous supporters had only two minutes to wait before they hit the front.
The goal arrived courtesy of a penalty - awarded by referee Ian Stokes after defender Damian Brennan fouled Derek O'Brien inside the area. Stephen O'Flynn made no mistake from the spot.
And Galway doubled their lead in the 18th minute. O'Brien was again the provider as Derek Glynn crashed home his first goal of the night.
Galway could have been further in front at the break as Glynn saw his 39th-minute effort scrape the crossbar.
The home side were much better after the break and created several scoring chances. In fact, Kevin Doherty was denied by the woodwork on two occasions as Longford charged at the Galway defence.
Gary Rogers had to make a number of fine saves to keep the home side at bay - including excellent efforts from Dessie Baker, Dave Mooney and Dave Freeman.
However, Galway wrapped up the points in the 78th minute when Glynn won possession on the halfway line, raced towards goal and expertly curled the ball past Mick Dempsey.
LONGFORD TOWN:Dempsey; Sullivan, Brennan (O'Riordan 83), Doherty, Rutherford; Reilly (Wexler 59), Deegan, Doyle, Baker; Mooney, Freeman.
GALWAY UNITED:Rogers; James, Nootimer, Charles, Tracy; Russell (Cooke 61), Foley, Murphy (McKenna 72), O'Brien; O'Flynn (Moran 86), Glynn.
Referee:I Stokes (Dublin).
