Longford Town 2 St Patrick's Athletic 0
Longford Town won the FAI Cup this afternoon after a frantic finish at Lansdowne Road nailed the door shut on St Patrick's Athletic.
Shane Barrett scored a breakaway goal in injury time as Chris Adamson was left stranded after making his way up for a Pat's corner in an attempt to equalise Colm Foley's first half own goal.
It was sweet revenge for Longford Town, having lost the League Cup final to the same opposition on penalties in August, and thoroughly deserved.
Longford were by a long way the better team and even had the luxury of missing a penalty en route to victory, courtesy of captain Barry Ferguson.
Alan Matthews' side settled quickest, with Barrett full of running across the backline.
The young striker was on target after no less than five minutes when he stole a yard on Clive Delaney on the left handside and made an angle for the shot with a determined run across the front of the box.
Had it come later in the game Barrett may have buried it but as it was he struck a tame shot into the arms of Adamson. Ferguson went closer just moments later after Barrett won a corner off a more attentive Delaney.
Keogh fired it in nicely for Ferguson to meet at the near post and direct it, once again, into the grateful arms of Adamson.
Longford should have taken the lead after ten minutes when Sean Prunty swung in a cross for Barrett. Stretching to control it however Barrett deflected into the path of Vinny Perth whose first touch let him down ten yards from goal and another chance was lost for Longford.
Opportunities for Pat's were at premium at this stage and really only amounted to half chances for McPhee and Bird that were snuffed out by McGovern and O'Brien respectively.
Longford's breakthrough came after 33 minutes when substitute Paul Donnelly, on for the injured Davy Byrne, lost the ball deep in his own half.
Alan Kirby was onto it like a shot and quickly found Sean Francis peeling off to the left. Francis, watched closely by Foley, cut inside and went at the Pat's defence. Twisting and turning the midfielder moved it on to his left foot and with a sight of goal, pulled the trigger.
Unfortunately for Foley however, what looked like a good block only directed the ball over his own keeper and even the 6ft 6' Delaney was helpless as he tried to clear it from underneath the crossbar.
Pat's went close almost immediately when Bird was beaten to a Keith Dunne cross at the near post by the fist of Steven O'Brien in the Longford goal.
The luck went their way at the other end however, eight minutes before the end of the half, when Adamson was whistled for taking down the effervescent Barrett in the box.
Ferguson stepped up to do the honours but shot a soft effort to Adamson's right that the keeper saved without much trouble. The captain never looked right over the penalty spot, perhaps with that missed penalty in the League Cup Final, in the back of his mind.
Nevertheless one nil lead was an accurate reflection at halftime.
Pat's looked purposeful in the second half but again struggled to create any real chances. Their task grew ever greater when Keith Fahy was shown a straight red for a two footed lunge on Sean Prunty 15 minutes from the end.
That left Eamonn Collins with no choice but to remove Delaney from the park and bring on Keith Foy for a 3-3-3 formation.
Gaps appeared in the Pat's defence from then on and Barrett looked like he might expose them on a number of occasions. Substitute Eric Lavine inexplicably passed to Keogh and missed the opportunity to seal it after Adamson abandoned his goal to make his way up for a Pat's corner. Keogh hit the post but Lavine should have had it in the net long beforehand.
Barrett made no such mistake, however, and took his chance when Adamson ventured up on his second trip to the Town box. Brian McGovern strode clear after a scramble and set the young striker on his way and Barrett deservedly made sure Longford's name was on the cup with a calm finish from close range.