Five star Longford

A disastrous first-half display led to Athlone Town suffering an embarrassing home defeat to close rivals Longford at Lissywoollen last Tuesday. The Town completely crumbled during the opening half and picked a terrible occasion - a local derby - in which to produce their worst performance by some distance under Brendan Place. Longford cruised into a three goal lead by half-time - and it could have been more had Stephen Gough's 33rd minute penalty not struck the upright. Athlone were calamitous in the extreme during a desperate opening half display, with Gareth Cronin's recently reinvigorated Longford making light of the fact that Athlone had previously beaten them on two occasions this season. Both Derek Glynn and Darren McKenna grabbed a brace apiece for Longford with experienced captain Ray Kenny notching the other. Athlone rallied bravely at the start of the second half and goals from new signings Mark Salmon and Austin Skelly made a dramatic comeback seem possible. However, Longford soon regained control of the tie and killed it off with two further goals in the closing 20 minutes. Athlone's team included Mark Salmon, the son of former Town hero Joey Salmon, and he netted on his debut. However, ineptitude was prevalent in almost every area of the Athlone team, with perhaps only Johnny Mernagh and substitute Austin Skelly emerging from this horrid debacle with any credit. Longford's starting line-up included five former Athlone players while the home side boasted two players, Damien Rushe and Gary Murphy, who moved in the opposite direction this season. Longford started briskly and pressed Athlone deep into their own half from an early stage. Gary Murphy fired a decent early effort at the Longford goal but ex-Athlone 'keeper Danny O'Leary dealt well with his shot. On twelve minutes, Mernagh raced down the right flank and picked out David Tyrrell at the back post, but his tentative header was brilliantly pushed over the crossbar by O'Leary. Unfortunately, that was all Athlone had to offer in the first half - apart from several moments of ludicrous defending. Longford took the lead in bizarre circumstances on 24 minutes. Brian Cleary passed the ball back to 'keeper Alex O'Reilly - making his home debut - but the netminder's clearance was charged down by Darren McKenna at the edge of the box and the ball rolled into the unguarded net. The visitors doubled their advantage three minutes later. O'Reilly initially did well to push Michael Foley's powerful free kick around the post but, from the resulting corner, Brian McCarthy headed the ball into Ray Kenny's path and the veteran defender slammed the ball into the net from three yards. Mernagh then wasted a golden chance to slip Stephen Place through on goal but Longford quickly reaffirmed their position as controllers of the game. On 33 minutes, Des Hope brought down Glynn in the penalty box and Longford were awarded a spot kick which Stephen Gough crashed against the upright. Adrian Murphy went close for Longford on 44 minutes before Glynn made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time, easily eluding Kevin Dunne before rounding O'Reilly and calmly tucking the ball home. All seemed lost for Athlone by half-time but the introduction of Austin Skelly and Noel McGee seemed to bring some new life to their play. On 50 minutes, Salmon bundled the ball home following something of a scramble in the Longford box and the home crowd sensed a major comeback when Skelly converted a penalty kick two minutes later. Athlone dropped the tempo of their play, though, and Longford settled back into the game. On 72 minutes, Glynn fired a clinical shot into the roof of the net and McKenna grabbed Longford's fifth goal two minutes later after further poor defending from an erratic Athlone rearguard. Both Salmon and Skelly went close in the dying stages for Athlone while McGee also had a goal ruled out for offside, but the vast majority of the damage had been done in the opening 45 minutes. Athlone Town: Alex O'Reilly; Robbie Hamm; Brian Cleary; Kevin Dunne; Des Hope; Damien Rushe; Johnny Mernagh; Gary Murphy; Stephen Place; Mark Salmon; David Tyrrell. Subs: Austin Skelly for Murphy (45 mins); Noel McGee for Place (45); Kevin Williamson for Tyrrell (65). Longford Town: Danny O'Leary; Tom King; Ray Kenny; Brian McCarthy; Stephen Gough; Colm Jinks; Carmine Russo; Michael Foley; Derek Glynn; Darren McKenna; Adrian Murphy. Subs: Gary Curran for Jinks (51 mins); Neil McKenna for Foley (51); Liam Lynch for McKenna (88). Referee: Padraig Sutton.