Two goals in stoppage time from Zoran Yankovich broke Longford's hearts as the brilliance of Stephen O'Brien counted for nothing here in Bulgaria last night.
Seconds before Yankovich killed off Longford's challenge, substitute Henry Kenny missed a sitter right in front of goal after great work by Sean Prunty and Stephen Gavin - Longford's only real chance of the match.
Yankovich then got on the end of a long ball over the top to hold off Wes Byrne and drill home the first goal. That was on 92 minutes.
Two minutes later, Paul McNally tripped Nobojsa Jelenkovic as he raced into the area and Yankovic slotted home the penalty.
One had to feel sorry for O'Brien, who made a series of stunning stops, most notably from Liteks skipper Hristo Yovov and striker Stefan Yurukov.
Town did have their chances, though, Vitomir Voutov in the Liteks goal preventing a dream start by saving from Eric Lavine just 90 seconds into the game.
Stuart Byrne also brought the best out of Voutov with two long-range free-kicks.
But it all fell asunder at the death.
"I'm so proud of all the lads," said Longford manager Stephen Kenny, "they pushed this very talented Liteks team to the very last.
"What a game. It was end to end, especally in the second-half. We had about five chances and they probably had about 10.
"It was so disappointing to lose the way we did. We were so close to going through I can't believe it," added Kenny, referring to his namesake's miss before Town's house fell in. "The team were absolutely fantastic, they gave me everything. We leave here with our heads held high."
LITEKS LOVECH: Vutov; Zhelev, Rachita, Kirilov; Nikolov, Yovov, Hdiouad, Jelenkovic Patrascu; Yankovic, Yurukov. Subs: Bogdanov (Urukov 55 mins), Petrov for Nikolov (70 mins.), Bornoszov for Yovov (92 mins)
LONGFORD TOWN: O'Brien; Murphy, McNally, Smith, W. Byrne; Kirby, Reynolds, S. Byrne, Prunty; O'Connor, Lavine. Subs: Gavin for Kirby (61 mins.), H. Kenny for O'Connor (68 mins), Holt for Reynolds (86 mins.)
Referee: T Skierven (Norway)
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