Treaty United suffer another defeat before mid-season break

Treaty United remain rooted to the foot of the SSE Airtricity League First Division table after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Longford Town at Bishopsgate on Friday evening.

The result condemns Tommy Barrett’s side to a third consecutive defeat and leaves the Shannonsiders 10 points adrift of the final playoff position heading into the mid-season break.

Barrett made two changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Cork City in Monday’s Munster derby, with Jason Oyenuga and Ronan Manning replacing Ben Feeney and Mark Byrne in the starting line-up.

Meanwhile, Longford boss Wayne Groves kept faith with the same side that earned a 2-2 draw away to Finn Harps last weekend, a result that left the Midlanders within touching distance of the playoff places.

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The hosts made the perfect start and took the lead after just seven minutes in bizarre circumstances.

Former Longford goalkeeper Jack Brady carried the ball out of his area before completely miscueing his clearance straight to Alex O’Brien.

The midfielder needed no second invitation, lofting a superb effort from almost forty yards over the stranded goalkeeper and into the net for his second goal of the season.

Treaty struggled to respond, and their first meaningful opportunity did not arrive until the 23rd minute, when Oyenuga met a dangerous Ronan Manning free-kick, but his header drifted narrowly wide.

The visitors found chances difficult to come by and again looked most threatening from set-pieces. Manning delivered another dangerous ball into the area eight minutes before the break, with Robbie Lynch glancing an effort goalwards, only for Kian Moore to gather comfortably.

Longford nearly doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time. Andy Paraschiv met a lofted pass from Darragh Murtagh and struck a first-time volley that forced an excellent diving save from Brady. From the resulting corner, goalscorer O’Brien almost grabbed a spectacular second, but his overhead kick was easily collected.

The Midlanders continued to dominate after the restart.

Brady was again called into action to deny Murtagh before producing another smart stop moments later as Longford piled on the pressure.

Their persistence was rewarded in the 66th minute. Substitute Pharrell Manuel made an immediate impact after coming off the bench, delivering a perfectly weighted pass for Dean Williams, who calmly finished beyond Brady to double the hosts’ advantage.

Treaty struggled to mount a response, although substitute Ben Feeney briefly threatened with a tame effort that failed to trouble Moore.

The visitors’ best chance of the evening arrived five minutes from time when Mark Byrne raced through on goal following a clever pass from Brian Cunningham, but Moore stood tall to produce an excellent save. Longford almost added a third moments later when Manuel burst clear down the byline and picked out Paraschiv, whose effort failed to find the target.

There was still time for late drama. Ben Feeney reduced the deficit in the closing stages, firing emphatically into the top corner after being played through by Byrne to give Treaty a glimmer of hope; however, any thoughts of a comeback lasted barely thirty seconds.

With Treaty committing bodies forward in search of an equaliser, Longford struck immediately from the restart.

Francis Campbell got on the end of a long clearance and clinically finished to restore the two-goal cushion and seal all three points for the hosts.

The defeat leaves Treaty with plenty of work to do after the break as they prepare to host Bray Wanderers at the Markets Field.

Longford, meanwhile, will look to build on their momentum when they welcome Cobh Ramblers to Bishopsgate.

LONGFORD TOWN: Kian Moore; Taylor McCarthy, Osaze Irhue, Jake Hough, Jamie Egan (Cole Omorehiomwan 59); Alex O’Brien, Andy Paraschiv, Sean Moore (Kobi Ndebumadu 85); Stefan Ugbesia (Pharrell Manuel 63), Dean Williams (Francis Campbell 83), Darragh Murtagh.

TREATY UNITED: Jack Brady; Eric Yoro (Mark Byrne 84), Ben Lynch (Fionn Doherty 83), Darren Nwankwo, Robbie Lynch, Cian Curtis; Ronan Manning, Steven Healy (Raphael Ohin 59), Kyle Foley; Mark Murphy (Brian Cunningham 83), Jason Oyenuga (Ben Feeney 65).

REFEREE: Glen Geraghty.