Castlebar Celtic's FAI Cup crusade dashed by Longford Town

FAI CUP ROUND TWO

Castlebar Celtic 3

M Cunningham 4, E Hughes 15, J Loftus 39(P)

Longford Town 6

D Murtagh 11 18 23, D George 75 94, F Campbell 89

In Celtic Park

Castlebar Celtic’s foray in the FAI Cup may be over, but one thing is for certain: The Mayo champions put up one hell of a battle.

The scoreline may read Castlebar Celtic 3-6 Longford Town, but with the final 15 minutes looming, the game was there for the taking.

Substitute Luke Kelly caressed the ball onto dangerman Jordan Loftus. His shot had everything, and Kian Moore was cat-like to do just enough to tip the ball onto the post and behind.

From the resulting corner, the First Divisioners swept up the park, and sub Dean George bested Stefan Hester and Longford took a 5:3 lead.

Celtic kept battling, but Francis Campbell’s 89th-minute strike was one that cruelly took the game away from Celtic.

The game started in surreal fashion for the hoops, as their first real chance found them in dreamland. Dylan Edwards' corner into the mixer from the right flank caused consternation at the back for D’Town, and found Johnny Cocozza.

Cocozza laid off to Mark Cunningham, who hammered the ball into the net from short range to spark delirium.

Said ecstasy was short-lived, though. Stefan Hester flew out of the traps to try and intercept Daragh Murtagh, who nipped in ahead. The shot was hardly a gimme, though, with the angle and distance against him, but he still did well to suitably punish the error.

Even though the Super League champions were up against it, they kept the pressure on and were rewarded yet again for their feverish intensity in their bid to upset the odds.

Some sublime tiki-taka play in the centre of the park saw Edwards playing an inch-perfect through ball to Eoghan Hughes. Hughes has shown his propensity for finding the target all season, and this time was no different as he rolled under Kian Moore to edge his side again once more.

Yet again, holding onto the lead proved a much more difficult challenge than finding the front. Within 40 seconds, a save from Hester somehow ended up straight at the feet of Daragh Murtagh. The attacker had the goal at his mercy, and duly obliged to double his returns.

Incredulously, the crowd saw their fifth goal when the game was just 22 minutes old. A mis-placed Fionn Mahon pass was cruelly pounced on by Murtagh, who lobbed Hester to make it a hat-trick.

Even though Celtic had shipped three, they were far from horrendous at the back. Ioseph O’Reilly’s head was almost magnetic when balls were hoofed into the box, and at the other end, they showed their panache on many an occasion, including when Mark Cunningham’s cross was just too high for Hughes to latch onto.

Stevie Gavin’s men were rewarded for their bravery six minutes before the changeover. Jordan Loftus had been showing his game IQ with his deft touches and solid passes, and his header was the catalyst for the clash’s next seismic moment.

Osaze Irhue stretched to try and intercept Hughes, but was judged by Damien MacGrath to have clipped the Celtic midfielder.

Penalty given. Loftus’s reward was being saddled with the responsibility of levelling, and he did just that, putting the ball into the top right corner to give his side parity at half-time.

The start of Act Two almost mirrors Act One, and Edwards’ corner from the right was fizzed narrowly wide by O’Reilly.

Some 55th-minute pinball almost saw the visitors hit the front, but Pharell Manuel’s effort was tipped over.

Johnny Cocozza was a dynamo in the middle and almost found himself one-on-one with the opposing net-minder. Oisín Hand did well to recover and produce a fine tackle to dispossess the Celtic midfielder.

With the clock reading 75 minutes, home eyes would have lit up as a missile left former Finn Harps and Sligo Rovers livewire Loftus’ boot.

Unfortunately, he was just matched by Moore between the sticks.

Longford manager Wayne Groves brought in some of the big guns from the bench in the 70th minute.

This reaped its rewards. First, George showed his pedigree to finish a strong sweeping move.

Next, Campbell made the most of the chaos in the wake of a Daniel Norris ball into the mixer to double the lead.

Lastly, when George found himself seeing the whites of Hester’s eyes, he hammered home the ball and hammered home the win to boot.

A full report, plus reaction, will be carried in Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News