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Daire Doyle’s Longford Town team is one victory away from the promised land of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, and the bullish boss believes his team can pull off the feat against a yet unknown opponent.
Longford returned to Belfield less than a week after their thrilling 3-2 win over UCD to face Galway United in the decider of the First Division play-offs.
Aodh Dervin capped off a phenomenal display with a goal, while Karl Chambers also hit the mark for a Longford side who were left with worthy winners 2-1 with Galway snatching up late consolation via a header from Killian Brouder.
Ollie Horgan was an engrossed spectator, and his Finn Harps team was the most likely candidate to face the midlanders in the Premier Division vs. First Division showdown to secure a top flight spot next season, but Shelbourne or Derry City they could still provide the opposition.
Despite not knowing the identity of his next rivals, Doyle believes his positions will have a significant advantage in terms of confidence.
“We have one game left against a Premier Division team that hasn’t won many games this year,” he told RTÉ Sport.
“Whereas we will have a great victory tonight and a great victory last week.
“On top of that, we have already won nine games this season. That will allow us to enter the play-offs.”
If Doyle was pleased with Longford’s dominant performance in the first half, he was equally pleased with the composure and determination his team showed after the restart, when Galway rallied.
“In the first half, I think we were excellent,” he said. “Some of the football and the pace of work we put in there, I don’t think Galway could cope with our performance in the first half.
“He changed in the second half to a really tough game.
“That’s something we prepare guys for. Yeah, we can play like we did in the first half, but we needed to be able to do it like that in the second half when we knew they were going to come out with all guns on fire.” .
“But the guys were great and I am delighted with them.”
Dervin echoed his manager’s sentiments, saying: “We’ll watch the games on Monday, watch him and move on. We don’t really care who we play against either.”
Reflecting on the nature of victory, he said, ‘We dig deep, we discard, and that’s what this league is all about. And they are very, very good at it.
“Daire keeps telling me to shoot more. And I shot and scored. I’ve never felt anything like this in my life.”
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