FULL TIME: It was a night of firsts for some, but Dundalk had to wait until they could beat Longford Town 4-0 in a decisive second half at Oriel Park. While neither team was able to break through in the first half, Stephen O'Donnell's team's win was secured with three goals in the space of seven minutes, followed by a second goal for Greg Sloggett. In fact, this was Sloggett's first goal of the year, Pat Hoban's ninth goal of the year as well as Joe Adam's opening up his Dundalk account.

Two added minutes here at Oriel Park.

Karl Chambers played an excellent ball into Darragh Clarke but he overplays it and the Dundalk keeper Sheppard collects it but the pair clash.

John Martin looked as if he had added a fifth, Ryan O'Kane's strike was well saved by Dennison and Martin's tap-in is ruled out as he was offside

Darragh Leahy's cross is sent into the area and John Martin gets a header on goal but it goes wide of the mark.

Ben Lynch replaces Dylan Barnett and Matthew O'Brien replaces Aaron Robinson.

John Mountney - a 4-time winner of the FAI Cup - moves level with Dundalk's 2002 FAI Cup-winning captain David Crawley in joint 12th in the all-time appearance list following his introduction.

Triple change for Dundalk as McMillan, Mountney and Martin come on for Hoban, Macari and Sloggett

And it's four! Dundalk has added another one as Greg Sloggett tapped home from Ryan O'Kane pass - O'Kane looked fantastic in the buildup breaking into the area and providing an excellent pass to his teammate.

It's 3-0 Dundalk! Joe Adams gets his first goal for Dundalk as he latched onto a pass on the edge of the area and hits a low effort that flies past the keeper. Thats three goals in the space of seven minutes.

Darren Clarke replaces Jordan Adeyemo and Adam Verdon replaces Sam Verdon.

It's 2-0! A cross from Macari from a lay-off from Hoban and the cross from the Dundalk right back heads it past Dennison to double Dundalk's advantage!

Dundalk get the breakthrough! Joe Adams with the initial shot after a great pass from Bradley. Adams shot is saved and Sloggett was on hand to slot it home.

CHANCE: Lewis Macari with yet another quality delivery and Joe Adams at the back post just heads wide.

Karl Chambers comes on for Brandon McCann of Longford Town.

Double change for Dundalk: Ryan O'Kane comes on for Hauge and Joe Adams is on for Keith Ward

CHANCE: Hoban collects the balls from a corner knock down and his shot goes wide of the mark.

Sam Verdon is down injured getting treatment and it looks as if he has got a head injury of some sort.

We are back underway - the half was delayed because well we can say anything different: someone got sick and it had to clean up off the pitch.

HALF TIME: A frustrating performance for the home side who have not got going, Longford have been impressive and hard working. A lot to do in this second if either side are to progress.

POST: Dundalk gets a corner and the ball is initially headed by Boyle and Bradley's header strikes the post, the ball bounces around the area but it's finally cleared. One added minute here at Oriel Park.

Adeyemo lobbed the ball and puts it in the back of the net beating Sheppard but he was offside.

SAVE: Dennison hits a low strike from outside the area and it forces good diving save from the Longford Town keeper.

Not much to report since the Ward chance, a lot of passages of play but nothing of note for either side.

CHANCE: Hoban holds the ball up and releases Runar with the ball and his cross finds the onrushing Keith Ward but his effort goes just wide.

It's become a little bit of a siege on Longford's goal at the moment but the away side are defending very well at the moment.

Runar Hauge tries to make a name for himself with a strike from outside the area but his curling effort is well saved.

Bradley hits a strike with his cultured left foot but Longford do well to block down the effort.

CHANCE: Hoban with a fantastic strike on the edge of the area after the ball fell to him after some clever build-up play by Keith Ward. That just went over the bar - Dundalk starting to go into the game.

Hauge is getting a bit more movement and space and his cross into the read is well read by the keeper

CHANCE: Keith Ward collects the ball just outside the area and his dinked cross is met at the back post by Patrick Hoban but his header just goes wide of the far post.

Longford very much pushing Dundalk high and Adeyemo is making a menace of himself upfront, very impressive start from the First Division side.

Patrick Hoban has a sight on goal but he is deemed to have fouled Luke Dennison and down the other end Nathan Sheppard is put under pressure from Jordan Adeyemo

Longford playing a high press at the moment looking to catch Dundalk under pressure as both sides try to find their way in this tie. Both sides looking for an early breakthrough.

CHANCE: The first sight on goal comes from Greg Sloggett as Stephen Brady does some trickery and feeds the ball to Sloggett and he lets one fly from the edge of the area but his effort just went wide.

KICK OFF: We are underway at Oriel Park, Dundalk kick us off with Keith Ward starting proceedings.

Stephen O'Donnell starts a bid to win back-to-back FAI Cups with different clubs tonight. His Pat’s side were 6-0 winners against current Longford Town boss Gary Cronin’s Bray at this stage last year with Sam Bone amongst the scorers on the day.

It's just a third FAI Cup meeting between the sides. Dundalk won 3-0 away in the opening round in February 1972 when Gerry Rogers, Paddy Turner and Sean Kelly were on target and 2-0 at home in the last meeting in the semi-finals in 2015 when Paddy Barrett and Ronan Finn scored

Nathan Shepperd also returns to the Dundalk starting lineup tonight having missed the last two games with a shoulder problem. It's an FAI Cup debut for the Welsh keeper but he has been on the bench for an FA Cup tie when Brentford beat Middlesbrough 2-1 at home in January 2021.

The big team news from tonight is that Runar Hauge will make his debut for Dundalk tonight. He becomes the fifth Norwegian to play in the League of Ireland after Stanley Anaebonam (Shels), Glen Atle Larsen (Pat’s), Tim Nilsen (Derry City) and Ole Erik Midtskogen who played for Dundalk last year. He is currently playing with Kjelsås Fotball Club - the third tier in Norway.

Good evening from Final Whistle HQ - Ciaran Callan is here to take you through tonight's FAI Cup First Round between Dundalk FC and Longford Town. The road to the Aviva begins all around the country and Dundalk will be hoping to make a return to the showcase final this year.