Longford Town 1; Galway United 0: After so many years in which a second game in a knockout competition must have been regarded within the club as a run to be remembered, Longford last night enhanced their status as the country's new cup specialists with a hard fought but ultimately comfortable win over Galway.

A 62nd minute close range strike from Seán Francis was enough to send Alan Matthews's men, and their increasingly substantial band of supporters, on to Lansdowne Road in three weeks time for the club's second final of the season.

Having also been as far in this competition three seasons ago, only to lose on that occasion as well, they'll be hoping this latest outing against the winners of tomorrow's game between Bohemians and St Patrick's Athletic, might be a case of third time lucky.

Shane Barrett's return to action for the first time since the League Cup final in August certainly sharpened the home side's attack last night but it didn't take long to work out who posed the greatest threat to the nil-all scoreline throughout the first half.

For Galway's Alan Murphy a cup semi-final in front of close to 5,000 people must have seemed a decent way to celebrate his 22nd birthday. But for the student, who has comfortably led the league's goalscoring table this season, the evening was hardly going to be complete unless it included at least one more to add to his remarkable run of 24 goals in 26 games.

Despite the losing battle his team mates were generally fighting in midfield he came close to finding the net on a couple of occasions in the first half with the striker first clipping the crossbar with a delicate shot from a little over 20 yards out and then clattering it with a free from around 30.

Those were the best chances of the opening period, although Murphy, who oozed confidence on the ball, and his strike partner, Barry Moran, provided plenty of other problems for the home side's defence with their pace on the way towards goal and their ability to suddenly turn inside and bring other players into the proceedings.

All of which clearly concerned Matthews for having watched his players struggle at the back, win a good deal of possession in midfield but make little of it up front, he completely reorganised things at half-time when five players were shifted about in the hope of both containing the United attack and injecting a greater sense of purpose into the Longford's own moves forward.

"We were lucky to go in level at half-time but the changes shook things up and we were much more effective from the break on," said Matthews afterwards.

Murphy's influence was dramatically reduced almost immediately while the switch by the Longford player of the same name from right back to midfield proved to be the most positive aspect of the home side's reorganisation.

The 25-year-old excelled through the second period during which he helped the locals get comprehensively on top in the contest.

Their breakthrough came with just over an hour played when Barrett won a corner from which the ball finally bounced kindly for Francis who stabbed home after Mark Herrick had cleared Alan Kirby's header off the line.

United had 30 minutes in which to at least salvage a draw but in truth they rarely looked like pulling it off and Tony Mannion admitted afterwards that their performance had been well short of their best.

On a couple of occasions Stephen O'Brien was forced to come quickly off his line to gather around the edges of his area but with his reorganised defence now smothering the threat posed by United's young strikers, the visitors no longer looked capable of troubling him.

At the other end it was a different story with Longford now pressing for a second that looked increasingly likely to come as the second ticked away towards the end.

Barrett went close with a low drive that slipped a foot the wrong side of the left hand post 14 minutes from the end but it was Barrett's replacement, Liam Kelly, who engineered his side's best chance of doubling their advantage as the game moved into added time with the former Shelbourne striker holding Mike Quirke off well before sending Murphy clear.

The crowd were already on their feet as the midfielder closed in for the shot but Forde did well this time, saving with his legs to preserve pride for his team on a night when they were left with little else to bring back home to Galway.

LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Alan Murphy, Dillon, McGovern, Gartland; Kirby, Perty. Keogh (Mulvihill, 77 mins), Prunty; Barrett (Kelly, 87 mins), Francis.

GALWAY UNITED: Forde; Keady, Frawley, Carter, Quirke; Harty (Russell, 72 mins), Herrick, Fortune, Lawless; Moran, Murphy.

Referee: A Buttimer (Cork)