Treaty United earn First Division away win at Longford Town

Two first half goals from Cian Curtis and Mark Byrne plus three outstanding saves from keeper Jack Brady deservedly secured all three points for second from bottom Treaty United against Longford Town at Bishopsgate on Saturday night.

The win, Treaty’s eighth of the season, leaves Tommy Barrett’s men with a slight hope of a late play-off run, eight points off fifth placed Kerry with five games to go. It is a slim chance but it boosts morale and confidence for Treaty ahead of Friday’s trip to Bray.

Treaty came close to opening the scoring on nine minutes when central striker Cian Curtis ran in behind the Town rearguard to receive a defence splitting pass but Town keeper Kian Moore raced off his line to make a brilliant save.

Just two minutes later, the visitors did take the lead when Curtis’s crisp low shot from the edge of the Longford penalty area nestled in the back of the net.

The Limerick men were well on top and they carved open the Longford back-line again on the quarter-hour mark.

The impressive Curtis went on a storming run and then spread the ball out to the overlapping Billy Regan who raced into the Town box but his shot produced a fine save from Longford stopper Kian Moore.

The home side’s first opportunity came on 17 minutes when Aaron Doran passed the ball to Pharrell Manuel on the right and his cross picked out striker Dean Williams at the back post but somehow his close-range header was superbly tipped over the bar by Treaty (and former Longford) keeper Jack Brady.

Treaty almost doubled their lead in the 21st minute when striker Fuhad Kareem’s 12-yard effort was cleared off the line by Longford defender Alex O’Brien.

Longford came close to equalising just after the half hour when another Manuel cross from the right again found the head of striker Williams but Treaty keeper Brady pulled off another great save from his header.

The visitors deservedly went two goals soon after when Mark Byrne outpaced the Town defence down the right and cut inside to the box before firing in a low diagonal shot to the bottom left corner of the Longford net.

Treaty should have made it three on sixty-five minutes when Byrne’s left-wing cross picked out substitute Ben Feeney at the back post but he fired wide when he should have scored.

Longford Town should have pulled a goal back with 19 minutes remaining when they were awarded a penalty.

A cross from the left was poorly cleared by defender Ben Lynch and the ball landed at the feet of Aaron Doran just inside the box but as he was about to pull the trigger, he was fouled by Ronan Manning and referee Declan Toland correctly pointed to the spot.

However, typical of a truly appalling performance from the home side, as he ran up to take the spot kick, Doran slipped and then saw his penalty saved by Treaty stopper Brady.

Treaty substitute Jason Oyenuga almost made it three-nil in stoppage time but his sixteen-yard low shot towards the bottom left corner of the Town net was well saved by Kian Moore.

LONGFORD TOWN: Kian Moore; Sultan Adenekan, Alex O’Brien, Taylor McCarthy, Jake Hough; Sean Moore, Andy Paraschiv; Pharrell Manuel (Stefan Ugbesia, 63 mins), Aaron Doran, James Bailey (Darragh Murtagh, 63 mins); Dean Williams (Francis Campbell, 72 mins).

TREATY UNITED: Jack Brady; Mark Regan, Killian Cantwell, Kyle Foley, Ben Lynch; Ronan Manning (Mark Murphy, 75 mins), Colin Conroy, Steven Healy; Mark Byrne (Jason Oyenuga, 60 mins), Cian Curtis (Darren Nwankwo, 75 mins), Dare Kareem (Ben Feeney, 57 mins).

Referee: Declan Toland.