SOCCER / Longford Town 2 St Patrick's Athletic 0: The owners may have been distracted by events in the early hours on the other side of the world but back at home Lansdowne Road managed a rather special sporting drama of its own yesterday as Longford Town overwhelmed a below par St Patrick's Athletic in a thrilling finish to this year's Carlsberg FAI Cup.

A goal in each half, the first a Sean Francis shot cruelly deflected off Colm Foley, the second a Shane Barrett strike scored when the Dubliners gambled everything in added time, proved enough to give the club its first piece of serious silverware and prompt jubilant celebrations amongst their supporters in the 15,000 crowd.

Those whose support stretched back even a few short years ago to when the club's participation in the national league was regarded with disinterest in the town and a fair amount of bewilderment outside of it, must have feared they would awaken to find this latest instalment of their team's remarkable transformation was no more than another episode in a series of weird but wonderful dreams. At Richmond Park, meanwhile, not just the match but the events of the entire week just passed will be remembered as something approaching a nightmare.

St Pat's have come to know all about losing in finals but it's hard to imagine that the players that left the field after going under to Finn Harps, Waterford or Shelbourne could have left so perplexed as to how it was they had so tamely allowed the big occasion to pass them by.

"If this match was played tomorrow," sighed Paul Osam afterwards, "you'd think we'd have a pretty good chance of winning but it was played today and I simply have no explanation for why it was that we didn't play out there today."

One fairly good reason was that they simply weren't allowed to. Handicapped by the loss of two key players during the run-up to the game and forced to throw another couple in when they clearly weren't right, the Dubliners came up against a Longford side determined to put the disappointment of being beaten by Bohemians in the club's first cup final appearance a couple of years back.

From the outset yesterday, it was Longford that sought to take a grip on the contest and though their opponents had proven adept in earlier rounds at wrestling early control of game away from their opponents they had, on this occasion, no answers when the tough questions were asked of them in the second half.

While the winners had heroes in almost every area of the pitch - Sean Dillon, Philip Keogh and Sean Francis to name, perhaps unfairly, just three - the performances of their opponents were flat throughout.

Barry Prenderville, in particular, suffered badly at right back during the first period while Tony Bird and Gary McPhee failed to make any impression at all up front and Keith Fahey, after a quiet opening half during which he struggled on the left, undermined their search for a late equaliser with a reckless challenge on Sean Prunty for which he was rightly sent off.

By then Longford were occasionally managing to get nine of their men between their own penalty spot and goal but there was never any real suggestion that their backs were to the wall. The two best chances to fall to their opponents were both the result of Stephen O'Brien's slightly shaky attempts to cope with high balls into the area but over the 90 minutes the goalkeeper did not actually have to make what might be regarded as a save of any note.

In front of him both Brian McGovern and Barry Ferguson looked in complete command while the swift running and passing of players like Alan Murphy, Alan Kirby and Barrett ensured that no matter how deeply they ended up defending they still looked capable of adding to their advantage on the break. Their opening goal, after 34 minutes, involved more than a little luck although after Paul Donnelly had rather sloppily surrendered possession in midfield both Kirby and Francis did well before Foley's looping deflection carried the ball over Chris Adamson and, on the line, Clive Delaney's desperate attempt to block.

But they should have had a second before the break when Adamson brought down Barrett only to save the spot kick that followed with Ferguson, who had also failed to convert a penalty in the League Cup final, this time sending a weak shot far too close to the goalkeeper.

Fortunately for the 24-year-old it didn't matter this time. Though Eamonn Collins' side improved as the second half went on they simply didn't possess the wherewithal to save the game in the face of some capable defending and inspired counter-attacking.

Delaney did go close with a header while Dave Freeman, on for the desperately disappointing McPhee who greeted his substitution with a quite wonderful display of petulance, fired inches over after O'Brien had flapped Bird's mishit shot into his path.

At the other end, though, Barrett twice threatened close in before the end of normal time. After it we were treated to a few minutes of bedlam as St Patrick's threw everything forward in the desperate hope of forcing a replay. Adamson initially joined the attack for a free only for Longford to break, Eric Lavine to pass up the chance of a long range shot at an empty net and Keogh to drive low through three retreating defenders and off the foot of the post.

A minute so later the goalkeeper was less fortunate after advancing for a corner. Lavine this time tripped on the edge of the area as he attempted to clear the ball upfield but McGovern stepped in to do the job instead and Barrett, despite looking offside, raced on to score a goal that finally put the result beyond doubt.

LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Murphy, Ferguson, McGovern, Dillon; Kirby (Lavine, 83 mins), Perth, Keogh, Prunty; Barrett, Francis.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Adamson; Prenderville, Foley, Delaney (Foy, 80 mins), Maguire; Dunne, Byrne (Donnelly, 30 mins), Osam, Fahey; McPhee (Freeman, 55 mins), Bird.

Referee: A Kelly (Cork).