TREATY United and Longford Town played out their second scoreless draw in two weeks at the Markets Field on Monday night in a re-arranged game from the earlier postponed fixture between the sides.
Tommy Barrett was forced into making two changes from his starting 11 with both Jack Lynch and Enda Curran unavailable through work commitments and injury respectively. Matt Keane and Conor Melody were introduced to the starting line up as Barrett began with a 4-4-2 formation.
In the opening stages, Longford were dominating possession with Treaty attempting to frustrate their visitors and keep their defensive shape. However, it was the the home side who had the first chance of the game when Callum McNamara was fouled by Matt Dunne but Charlie Fleming curled the free-kick over the bar.
Longford’s midfield trio of Aaron Robinson, Dean McMenemy and Matt O’Brien were seeing plenty of the ball in the opening half but they didn’t create their first chance until the 20th minute when Ryan Graydon cut inside Marc Ludden before shooting straight at Jack Brady. Moments later, Longford centre-back Dylan Barnett was allowed travel a distance with the ball before cross towards O’Brien who was denied by Brady.
Longford were in the ascendancy at this point and following good play from striker Sam Verdon, O’Brien had two more chances but a combination of Brady and poor finishing kept the game scoreless. Treaty had the final chance of the half as Sean Guerins headed Fleming’s free-kick goalwards but Dennison reacted quickly to save.
At the beginning of the second half, Shane Elworthy cut inside two Treaty challenges before crashing a shot off the crossbar. At this point Treaty began to offer more of an attacking threat when Matt Keane’s cross was headed over by Melody. Subsequently, a quick turn and shot from Dean George was saved by Dennison. Joel Coustrain was returning for the first time in three weeks from injury and with his first involvement, he raced at the Longford goal but his shot went wide.
With ten minutes remaining, Marc Ludden drove into the Longford box at pace before firing a low shot goalwards but Dennison pulled off a great save. With five minutes remaining, Longford’s Ryan Graydon skipped past Ludden’s challenge before crossing for Joe Doyle who headed over from the 6 yards out.
That proved to be the last action of an entertaining 0-0 draw and leaves Treaty in 5th place and three points ahead of Wexford. Treaty now host Cobh Ramblers at the Markets Field on Friday night as they search for their first win in 6 games.
Treaty United: Jack Brady, Charlie Fleming, Sean Guerins, Joe Gorman, Marc Ludden, Callum McNamara, Joe Collins, Lee Devitt, Matt Keane, Dean George, Conor Melody (Joel Coustrain 80)
Longford Town: Luke Dennison, Shane Elworthy, Matt Dunne, Dylan Barnett, Ben Lynch, Aaron Robinson, Dean McMenemy, Ryan Graydon, Matthew O’Brien, Eric Molloy, Sam Verdon
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