Dundalk edge out Longford in seven goal thriller

Dundalk 4-3 Longford Town

Ciaran Kilduff's stoppage time header broke Longford Town hearts at Oriel Park last night as Dundalk opened up a nine point lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League table.

The champions broke the deadlock after 11 minutes when Patrick McEleney’s pinpoint delivery to the back post found David McMillan and he headed past Paul Skinner.

The visitors stunned the home support by drawing level with their first attempt on goal in the 35th minute. Kealan Dillon’s corner found Lee Duffy at the near post and his flick whistled past Gary Rogers to send the teams in all square at the break.

Dundalk edged in front after four minutes of the restart. Sean Gannon provided the ammunition from the right, McMillan meeting it with a brilliant glancing header that left Skinner with no chance.

Bottom of the table Longford drew level for the second time in the 55th minute. Dillon was the provider again, his corner from the left landing kindly for Noel Haverty to fire home and make it 2-2.

McMillan bagged his second hat trick in the space of four days in the 63rd minute, heading past Skinner for the third time but some comical defending at the other end, however, came back to haunt Dundalk again.

Andy Boyle and Gary Rogers made a complete mess of dealing with another Kealan Dillon set-piece and Rhys Gorman was on hand to prod home with 16 minutes to play.

It looked like Longford would leave with a deserved share of the spoils until Kilduff popped up with what could be a priceless winner.

Dundalk: Rogers; Gannon, Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Finn, O'Donnell;

Mountney (Meenan 60), McEleney (Kilduff 79), Horgan; McMillan (Shields 90).

Longford Town: Skinner; Dillon, Gorman, Haverty, O'Reilly, Powell; McGlynn (O'Connor 66), Gannon, Hughes; Duffy (O'Sullivan 63), Simon.

Referee: Dave McKeon.

Attendance: 1,919.