MU17 Tier Two Shield Semi-Final
Longford Town 3-2 Waterford FC
It was another good day on the pitch for Longford Town MU17’s as they booked their place in the MU17 Tier Two League Final on Sunday afternoon with an outstanding 3-2 win over Waterford at a soaked Bishopsgate.
De Town started on the front foot from the off, and were deserving ahead in the eighth minute when a well worked cross was flicked into the path of Mantas Stoskus who made no mistake guiding it into the far bottom corner from close range. The first half swung in the favour of Waterford after this and with a strong gail against De Town, they found it hard to put pressure on Waterford. The Blues were gifted a goal in the 21st minute, a pass back to goalkeeper Matthew Onome stopped in a puddle on the pitch allowing Waterford striker Jan Wozniak to round the unlucky goalkeeper and tap it in to level the tie, it stayed level until the break.
With the wind behind them in the second half and Waterford’s ground football approach not being visible for the pitch conditions, De Town really kicked on in the second half and were awarded in the 69th minute when a Dylan Frawley corner kick somehow went in off the goalkeeper to put De Town ahead with twenty minutes to play. Captain James McHugh had the ball fall to him before the end and from 40 yards hit a thunder of a strike that smashed off the crossbar but no town player capitalised on the loose ball. There was to be another twist in the tail however, Waterford player Matt Barrett found himself through on goal and equalised the game in the 95th minute with Waterford’s only attempt on goal all half.
In Extra Time with conditions getting tougher to play in, De Town dominated both halves and could and should have won it comfortably, a slip from a Waterford defender took the Longford attacker out and the referee had no option but to award the penalty in the 98th minute, Chris Malone made no mistake and the tie turned. Emmanuel Mensah came close with a header on goal early in the second half of Extra Time. With time running out, both benches became feisty and with 5 minutes remaining a foul for reckless challenge on a Longford defender by a Waterford player was disapproved off by the Waterford manager and referee Ciaran O’Reilly had no other choice but to send him off with little time left.
As De Town cleared their lines and Waterford tried to find an equaliser, it was all too late as the referee blew for Full Time confirming Longford Town’s place in the final of MU17 Tier Two League. A brilliant achievement for Conor Frawley, Conor Peck and their squad.
De Town will play the winner of Galway United vs Athlone Town who face each other on Wednesday. The venue of the game will be decided by coin toss. We wish the squad the very best of luck in the final to be played very soon.