Galway United 6

Longford Town 0

By Mike Rafferty at Eamonn Deacy Park

A year on from their regular jousts in the First Division last season, Galway United and Longford Town have moved in vastly different directions.

Of course, the Midlands outfit were the only team to defeat John Caulfield’s all conquering charges during that campaign and, in fact, did so twice, but as United now thrive in the top flight, Longford have slipped to the basement of the lower division and are struggling to make any sort of impact.

At Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night, this FAI Cup Second Round meeting was a foregone conclusion from the early exchanges as eventually three goals in each half allowed the home side to stroll to a one-sided victory.

The outcome could have been even more emphatic as the woodwork and some poor finishing prevented United from possibly reaching double figures, but the visitors still slipped to their heaviest away cup defeat.

Following their victory over Waterford the previous week, United made four changes to the starting eleven, with new signings Rob Burns and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe getting their first starts. Colm Horgan made a long awaited return from injury as he lined out in his customary right-full position, while Francely Lomboto in attack completed the changes.

The reshuffle made no difference to the home side as they took complete control from the off as they ensured a nightmare outing for Wayne Groves’ side.

As is symbolic of a struggling outfit, Longford used the transfer window to shift a few players on and this allowed for the arrival of some new faces as they made six changes from their 4-1 defeat against Athlone Town the previous week.

However, the new additions got little opportunity to get to know one another on this occasion  as a rearguard action saw them in retreat for the majority of the 90 minutes. In fact, they never had a shot on target, while a wild lash by Emmanuel James that landed in the car park was their only attempt on goal.

In a pre-match interview John Caulfield was very strong in his recollection of the difficult games against Longford last season and it was apparent from the opening exchanges that the manager was not allowing any complacency set in as United were on the front foot from the off.

Pictured: Galway United’s Patrick Hickey congratulates Francely Lomboto after scoring one of their six goals in Friday night’s FAI Cup thrashing of Longford Town at Eamonn Deacy Park. Photos: Joe O’Shaughnessy.