Longford Town 2 Galway United 0
This was a grim evening in the midlands for Galway United.
Soundly beaten by Longford Town, United will need to summon a defiant response when Waterford FC visit Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday.
At Bishopsgate, though, Longford struck two second half goals to dent the visitors' promotion hopes.
Cristian Magerusan, who had been denied by some fine Conor Kearns saves in the opening period, eventually pounced to score in the 62nd minute.
Mick McDonnell's header caused panic in the United area with Magerusan supplying the required finish.
Then with eight minutes remaining Dylan Barnett's inviting corner was headed home by Magerusan to seal the deal.
Early on Magerusan had a couple of efforts for Longford, but United survived a few scares.
Conor McCormack and Ed McCarthy forced Luke Dennison to make a couple of decent stops at the opposite end of the pitch before the break, but Longford were primed for this encounter.
Longford hit the front after the restart and United, despite making a string of substitutions, just couldn't recover.
Longford Town: Dennison; Elworthy, McDonnell, Barker, Barnett; Robinson, O'Brien, Power; Chambers, Magerusan (Molloy, 86 ), Graydon.
Galway United: Kearns; O’Keeffe, Portilla (Lyons, 84 ), Brouder, Murphy; Boylan (Walsh, 72 ), McCormack, Hurley, Waweru (Lomboto, 72 ); McCarthy (Doherty, 83 ); Dimas (Adeyemo, 72 ).
Referee: Gavin Colfer.
