Treaty United v Longford Town (Division 1)
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Friday 8th July – 7:45PM KO
An important game for both sides as Treaty United look to climb back into the Irish Division 1 play-off places while Longford Town will be keen to keep a buffer between themselves and the sides below them as the battle for a place in the end-of-season promotion play-offs begins to heat up.
At times this season, Longford Town have been as impressive as anyone with De Town putting in their best display of the season when beating title-chasing Galway United for the second time this season a fortnight ago. That was a superb reaction from Gary Cronin’s team given they had been turned over by Wexford just a few days beforehand. Sadly, Longford were on the bye week in the previous round so did not have an opportunity to carry the momentum of that Galway win into an immediate following match.
Tommy Barrett’s Treaty also showed plenty of character last time out with a 2-0 win away to Cobh Ramblers exactly what the doctor ordered having been thumped 5-0 at home to Cork City just a few days previous. Treaty have really struggled against some of the bigger sides in the division this season and while Longford are arguably a far more technically gifted side they’ve been unable to break down the Limerick men in two previous encounters this season.
Both H2H’s this year have ended scoreless with Treaty United happy to allow Longford to dominate the possession stakes and wait for opportunities to get forward on the counterattack. There’s absolutely no doubt Barrett will keep with that approach for this latest meeting so it will be up to Longford to find a way past this rugged Treaty team.
Cristian Magerusan has been a revelation since building up his match fitness to pretty much 100% in recent weeks. The former Bohemians striker is one of the stories of the season having recovered from two ACL injuries in recent years to become a key player for Gary Cronin’s men in their hunt for promotion. Magerusan has scored 3 goals in his last 5 matches and has also registered two assists. The Romanian striker could be the difference in this game given he was unavailable the last twice these sides met.
Longford will also be boosted by the returns of Captain Sam Verdon and midfielder Dean McMenamy who were suspended for the win over Galway. However, Town’s wide options have been severely weakened with Ryan Graydon being poached by Derry City in one of the more surprising transfers of recent years.
Treaty United are likely to once again be without ex-Longford striker Enda Curran who just can’t seem to get a break with injuries at the moment and they’ve badly missed his presence up front in recent months. Another ex-Town man, Joe Gorman has also left the club while Charlie Fleming has returned to his old club, Cobh Ramblers. It could be argued the Treaty squad is weaker than it has been at any stage since they joined the league last year.
Former Longford keeper’ Jack Brady has been in sensational form in the two H2H meetings this season and has thankfully recovered from a recent knock which is a huge boost to Treaty as his replacement was extremely poor in the 5-0 loss against Cork.
Longford Town have only scored 2+ goals in two matches this season and have only loss 3 times on the road with Treaty fairly difficult to beat at home so this appeals as another tight encounter.
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Prediction: Under 2.5 Goals, 1.90 on Betfair (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Galway United v Cobh Ramblers (Division 1)
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Friday 8th July – 7:45PM KO
Shane Keegan returns to his former club with his new employers Cobh Ramblers on Friday night but it’s likely to be a difficult return to the West for Keegan after his new side were turned over by Treaty United in his first game in charge last week.
Ramblers have now lost 15 of their 20 matches with Keegan’s remit very much to build something for next season as opposed to achieving anything of note in 2022. Galway United, meanwhile, managed to bounce back from a mini winless streak of two matches with a win against a red-hot in form Waterford. That result brought about an end to the Blues 8 match-winning streak which has to give Galway confidence that they can now go about closing the gap on league leaders Cork City.
John Caulfield’s men were given a further shot in the arm on Wednesday with the signing of Bray Wanderers striker Rob Manley being announced. Manley is undoubtedly one of the best operators in the division with proven goalscoring pedigree behind him after successful spells at Cabinteely and Longford Town.
Such a signing is something Cobh Ramblers can only dream of and there’s every chance they’ll be totally outgunned just as they were in a 4-0 defeat against Galway in May.
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Prediction: Galway -1, 1.83 on Betfair (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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