A 28th minute goal from Alan Mullen against Limerick gave St Francis their first League win in what manager Pete Mahon described as their toughest game yet at Baldonnel yesterday. It was the perfect riposte by St Francis to their opening day 4-0 defeat to a Waterford team Mahon said were not a patch on Limerick.

Limerick could have been two goals up before they fell behind to what proved the only goal. Paul Carr cracked a superb 25 yard shot off the St Francis crossbar in the sixth minute while Howie King brought a good save from St Francis goalkeeper Gary Matthews minutes later, shooting wide from the rebound.

Limerick almost stole a point two minutes from time, despite St Francis' almost total second half dominance, but Matthews once more thwarted Howie King. Limerick's Declan Casey then had to clear off his line from Tommy Devlin almost immediately at the other end.

Galway United and Athlone Town, pre season favourites for promotion, were both surprisingly beaten away to Longford and Cobh respectively in Saturday night's First Division games. Meanwhile, four players, two from each side, were sent off between Kilkenny City and Waterford United at Buckley Park which finished 1-1.

Kilkenny's point will go down as something of a moral victory as they had to play much of the second half with nine players before Waterford had two sent off late.

Kilkenny had the perfect start when Pascal Keane gave them a second minute lead. But Waterford were level 20 minutes later through a Haakon Johnsen penalty after Joe Lawless had been fouled by Martin Reid.

Longford Town recorded their first home league win in over 21 months with the not inconsiderable scalp of Galway United at Strokestown Road.

Eamonn Synnott got the game off to a lively start with a fine headed goal from a Derek Murray corner after minutes. Galway responded positively and got their reward with a 32nd minute equaliser from Ollie Neary following a superb cross by Stephen Lally.

But Longford upped their game in the second half and eventually got a deserved winner on 72 minutes when Damien Dunleavy scoring from close range.

Cobh Ramblers' strike force tore Athlone to shreds as they romped to a 4 2 win in a cracking game at St Colman's Park.

Rory O'Connor scored twice for Cobh, opening their account on eight minutes and then scoring the cushioning fourth goal in the 68th minute.

Nark Gill's 14th minute equaliser was brushed aside when Stephen Brennan put Cobh back in front four minutes later. The game appeared nicely poised approaching half time after Athlone had equalised again through Davy Collins on the half hour. But Cobh's Jed Kielty scored the best of the six goals when giving them a 3-2 lead two minutes before the break.