Lyons leaves it late with winner over Longford

By Donncha Noonan | Photo: Kevin Barry Dorney

After a minor setback at the hands of Cork rivals Cobh Ramblers, City were looking to return to winning ways as they continued their bid for promotion at the first time of asking. It was Longford who stood in the way of the hosts and after a tense final twenty minutes, City prevailed thanks to a goal from 2024 First Division Player of the Year Charlie Lyons.

Barry Robson was forced into one change from his side who were held in Queenstown, with Matty Kiernan making his first start of the season replacing the sidelined Fiacre Kelleher.

Longford boss Wayne Groves made two changes to the team that drew nil-all at home with UCD last time out, Stefan Ugbesia and Luke O’Brien made way, being replaced in the side by Daniel McKenna and Dean Williams.

City started quickly and could’ve taken the lead after two minutes. Greg Bolger took a quick free kick on the right hand side of the halfway line and dinked a brilliant ball in the right channel for Seani Maguire to chase. The frontman got there, but could only lift his first time effort over the bar.

The hosts continued to pile pressure on Longford early on and went close again eight minutes later. Bolger won the ball in midfield and set it to a driving Cillian Murphy. He skipped past Conor Errity and slipped it right to the oncoming Josh Fitzpatrick, who blazed a shot narrowly over the bar.

Longford were fighting to keep City out and had more work to do with five minutes to go in the half. Fitzpatrick did brilliant work on the right hand side to get to the byline before pulling the ball across the box. It found Seani Maguire who directed a first time effort goalward, but the shot was turned behind by the trailing toe of Taylor McCarthy.

That was all as a fast start for City in the first fifteen troubled the visitors, but since then the hosts struggled to create many clear cut chances, so both sides went into the break level.

City began the second half similarly to the way they did the first, piling pressure on De Town as they kicked into the shed. It was the usual suspect who caused the visitors’ first issue of the half two minutes in. A loose pass from Alex O’Brien in his own half was pounced on by Josh Fitzpatrick, who slipped a pass through on goal for Seani Maguire. He let the ball run across his body and fired a strong left footed shot towards goal, but Kian Moore was there to deny the striker. City recycled the ball out to Hans Mpongo who floated a dangerous ball into the box aiming for Maguire. He got on the end of it and nodded the ball towards goal, but once again it was dealt with by Moore.

City were getting closer and almost had their breakthrough in the fifty-sixth minute via a training ground routine. Greg Bolger passed a corner short to Cillian Murphy, who laid it back to him. Bolger then passed it to Mpongo at the corner of the box, who took a touch and wrapped a shot that microscopically missed the top right corner.

After much trying, City finally took the lead at the sixty-four minute mark. Cillian Murphy chipped a ball into the box from the left hand side. Darragh Murtagh poked the cross away to Hans Mpongo, instead directing it to Maguire who fired a shot which was deflected off of Murtagh and bounced away from the scrambling Kian Moore and into the far right corner.

City’s lead only lasted fifteen minutes as the visitors snatched an equaliser. Osaze Irhue sprayed the ball wide left to Andy Paraschiv. Paraschiv fought hard to get through the City defence before firing a ball across the six yard box where Stefan Ugbesia was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net to bring De Town back level.

The drama wasn’t done there though as City were handed a chance at a winner with six minutes to play. An AJ Bridge cross was cleared only as far as Charlie Lyons who nodded it down to Josh Fitzpatrick. He fired a shot towards goal which cannoned off the arm of Stefan Ugbesia. The referee, albeit delayed, eventually pointed to the spot. After much gamesmanship from Longford, Seani Maguire stepped up, and saw his penalty equalled by Kian Moore as he parried the shot. The parry only went as far as an oncoming Charlie Lyons, who tucked the rebound under Moore and into the back of the net.

That was the last action of the game as City snatched three points late on thanks to the quick reactions of Charlie Lyons. It wasn’t the prettiest performance by City, with the Leesiders being very on and off during the game. They had periods of dominance where they put Longford at work such as the first fifteen minutes of the first half and the first twenty-five minutes of the second half. That being said, they also had large parts of the game where they found it difficult to really punish Longford and create big clear cut chances. To give credit to Longford, they did very well to keep City at bay for the majority of the game, and put up a very good fight as they might feel their efforts warranted more than the zero points they ended up with. It’s a game that won't inspire many City supporters, nor should it as City were fairly lethargic for a lot of the game, but if we continue winning games then I'm not sure people should get extremely bogged down on it. Of course it is a concern but storming the league is the ultimate priority.

My Man of the Match goes to Josh Fitzpatrick. I was very close to giving it to an on-from Seani Maguire, but it’s hard to deny the effort and drive displayed by Fitzpatrick on the night. He was unplayable on the right hand side as the wingback dominated both defensively and offensively, and won the penalty that led to City’s winner. Hopefully he can continue the good form he's had this season to try and claim his stake as a contributing member of the squad next season.

City will go in search of another win in UCD next week as they look to extend their lead at the top of the league. As for Longford, they’ll need to pick themselves up and look to get their first win of the season at home to Wexford.