Second half Salmon brace gives Longford win at Drogheda

Drogheda United 0 Longford Town 3

Two second-half goals from Mark Salmon saw Longford Town ease to a 3-0 win over Drogheda United at United Park on Friday night. The win sees Tony Cousins' side open a four point gap as they move to sixth in the table.

Longford hit the front inside two minutes. Gary Shaw toe poked the ball to Pat Sullivan who in turn played it into the path of the overlapping O'Sullivan who finished from close range.

Town rarely threatened after and it was the hosts who eventually played themselves back into the game and could have levelled had Mick Daly kept his effort low and on target on 15 minutes.

Shaw had a chance to send the visitors in 2-0 ahead at half-time but the un-marked striker blasted over from the edge of the box.

Longford profited from poor Drogheda defending again just before the hour mark when David O’Sullivan played a ball across the face of goal for Mark Salmon to tap in from close range.

Sean Thornton saw a straight red for a challenge on Mark Rossitor minutes before Salmon secured his brace with another tap-in, substitute Kaleem Simon supplying the assist. The Longford captain had a chance on 89 to complete his hat-trick but his volley bent just wide of the post.

Drogheda United: Schlingermann, McGowan, Buckley, Byrne, Gorman, Marks, Thornton, Daly, Brady (Duffy 71), Mulvenna (Maher 78), Kavanagh (Walshe 84)

Longford: Skinner, Pat Sullivan, Flynn, Rossitor (Mulhall 84), Powell, Salmon, O'Connor, Mohamed (Gorman 75), Rice, David O'Suillivan (Simon 75), Shaw

Referee: A Buttimer (Dublin)