Longford Rovers 1-1 Stradbally Town 1 (AET) Longford win 8-7 on Pens
CCFL Counties Cup Round 2
Stradbally Town returned to action Sunday afternoon when they travelled to Gainstown, Mullingar to face top of Division 2 Longford Rovers in this cup tie which covers all divisions of the CCFL.
Before the game a minutes silence was observed to mark the passing of the late Ciaran O’Neill.
To the action then and Stradbally started well forcing the home defence back but the Longford men grew into the game and forced Anto Skelly into some good saves.
It was the away side who took the lead however when Justin Lalor linked up with Fionn McEvoy on 27 minutes with McEvoy beating his marker before lobbing the home keeper with a good finish to the delight of the away bench.
Longford then struck the Stradbally crossbar on 36 minutes but it remained 0-1 at the break.
Longford came out fired up in the second half and put Stradbally under a lot of pressure and this paid off on 58 minutes when a well worked move was finished low to Skelly’s right from 12 yards.
The remainder of the game saw the home side put serious pressure on the Stradbally defence but they stood firm well marshalled by Eamonn Delaney who was man of the match for the men in green.
At the other end Jody Dillon and Benny Lawlor carried the threat on the counter but after a fine 90 minutes of football neither side could find a winner and it progressed to 20 mins of extra-time.
Once again neither side could force a winner and the dreaded penalty shoot-out awaited.
Jody Dillon, Benny Lawlor, Cillian Maher, Eamon Delaney, Liam Clancy, Noah Delaney and Colin Beale all converted from 12 yards with the unfortunate Ben Dillon and Jimmy O’Connor failing to convert.
Anto Skelly also pulled off a fine save for one of the Longford kicks as well.
Stradbally can hold their heads high after such a good performance against a side top of the division ahead of them and will now look to bounce back next Sunday when they host neighbours Portlaoise AFC in the CCFL shield.
Cillian Maher, Justin Lalor, Jody Dillon and the aforementioned Eamonn Delaney were the pick of the Stradbally performers on the day.
TEAM: Anto Skelly, Colin Beale, Eamonn Delaney, James Devoy, Charlie O’Brien, Benny Lawlor, Cillian Maher, John Clancy, Justin Lalor, Fionn McEvoy and Jody Dillon. SUBS: Jimmy O’Connor for Clancy, Liam Clancy for McEvoy, Noah Delaney for O’Brien, Ben Dillon, Tadgh Mullen Jack Larkin and Cailium Kelly.
ELSEWHERE
There were mixed fortunes for the other two Laois teams in the competition as Spink Celtic were eliminated by Frankford FC but Rosenallis advanced after defeating Longford Shamrocks 4-2.
In the Senior Division, Clonaslee United had a brilliant victory away in Gainstown.
A brace each from Bob Downey and Manus Dunne led them to a 4-3 win over Mullingar Athletic.
This was a battle of the bottom two sides and the win moves Clonaslee five points clear of their opponents.
In Division 1, Abbeyleix suffered a heavy defeat to Kinngead Juniors while in Division 3, Portlaoise were 4-1 winners over St Michael’s Athletic to climb to fourth place – six points off the top with two games in hand.
Sean Keane helped himself to a hat trick while Vincent Ateyi was also on the scoresheet.
Finally, St Aengus remain bottom of Division 4 after they were beaten by Hollywood FC.
CCFL RESULTS
LFA U-17 Cup 4th Round
Edenderry Town 0 Freebooters 3
U-17 Division 1
Clara Town 2 St Francis 1
U-17 Sunday
Newtown FC 2 Ballyboro 0
Ballyjamesduff 1 Killoe Celtic 1
U-19 Div 1 North
Kinnegad Juniors 2 Inny FC A 0
LFA Women’s Junior Cup 3rd Round
Ballymackey 1 Terenure Rangers 5
St Pauls Artane 2 Bealnamulla 3
St Francis 8 Birr Town 1
LFA Women’s Junior Shield 2nd Round
Killeigh FC 7 Cabinteely 1
Combined Counties Cup 2nd Round
Clara Town 1 Temple Villa 0
Spink Celtic 1 Frankford FC 5
Tullamore Town 7 Ballymahon 2
Killavilla Utd 2 (4) St Peter’s 2 (5) Pen
Gracefield Utd 2 Killeigh FC 1
Cloneygowan Celtic 3 CRFC 1
Rosenallis AFC 4 Longford Shamrocks 2
Longford Rovers 1 (7) Stradbally Town 1 (6) pens
Senior Division
Mullingar Ath 3 Clonaslee Utd 4
Coolraine 5 Monksland Utd 1
Division 1
Gallen Utd 2 Highfield Utd 3
Kinnegad Juniors 5 Abbeyleix Ath 0
Division 2
Mullingar Ath 0 Monksland Utd 1
Grange Utd 3 Inny FC 3
Division 3
Portlaoise 4 St Michaels Ath 1
Division 4A
Hollywood FC 7 St Aengus 3
Division 4B
Banagher Utd 3 Clara Town 3
Women’s Div 1
Inny FC 0 Ballymahon 7
SEE ALSO – Laois film composer set to make feature film and television debut
