Longford county football team

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Longford
Longford-GAA.png
Sport:Football
Irish:An Longfort
Nickname(s):Midlanders
County board:Longford GAA
Manager:Vacant
Captain:Donal McElligott
Home venue(s):Pearse Park, Longford
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:Leinster (QF) in 2020
Last championship title:None
Current NFL Division:3 (4th in 2020)
Last league title:1965-66
First colours
Second colours

The Longford county football team represents Longford in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Longford GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

Longford's home ground is Pearse Park, Longford. The team's manager is vacant.

The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1968 and the National League in 1966. Longford has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship.

Crest and colours[]

The Longford county colours are royal blue and gold. Green and white hooped jerseys were reputedly used by Longford until 1918 when a royal blue jersey with a gold sash was adopted. Around 1930 the sash disappeared but the gold trim was retained.

History[]

Jackie Devine set up two goals for Longford in the last six minutes of the 1968 Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) final to beat Laois by 3-9 to 1-4, where Sean Donnelly and Jim Hannify were the scorers. It was their only Leinster SFC title, and it came two years after a great victory over Galway on a scoreline of nine points to eight in the National League final. LOngford also won the O'Byrne Cup in 1965, and again in 2000.

When Longford lost a replayed Leinster SFC semi-final in 1970 it was the county's fourth semi-final in six years.

Brendan Hackett managed the team between 1987 and 1990 in his first managerial role at inter-county level.[1] Longford made the 1988 Leinster SFC semi-finals and also two quarter-finals of the National Football League.[1]

Victories over Westmeath and Wicklow in 1988 left the county on the verge of a Leinster SFC final after 20 years. The team played well against Dublin and led by three points at half-time. Team manager and sports psychologist Hackett cited what happened next as an example of lack of self-belief in extremis: Dublin drew level with twenty minutes remaining and won by 18 points.

Since first defeating Meath in the 1928 Championship, Longford has since tended to win against that opponent in that competition and had a surprise victory in 1982. LOngford forced Offaly to a replay in 1984, but the promise of the under-21 teams that reached successive Leinster finals in 1981 and 1982 failed to materialise. In 2002, the county's minor team won the Leinster Minor Football Championship, the following year the county vocational schools team won the All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship at A and B level, the only county to do so.

2001 saw Longford surrender the O'Byrne Cup in the opening round. The league saw Longford win four from the first five games, but defeats to Monaghan and Kildare in the final round meant there was no promotion. The championship began with victory over Louth in Navan to set up an SFC quarter-final against Dublin. Longford ultimately won well in that game, at Croke Park. 2001 also saw the introduction of the back door, or qualifiers. Longford's first second chance outing was away to Wicklow, though Longford lost by a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-11.

Denis Connerton managed the team between 2004 and 2007.[2]

Glenn Ryan managed the team from 2009.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Damien Sheridan won the All-Ireland Kick Fada Championship.

The footballers had mixed fortunes in 2014. The Leinster SFC campaign finally yielded a win over Offaly for new manager Jack Sheedy on a scoreline of 0-19 to 0-15,[3] but a 1-13 to 1-15 defeat to Wexford followed in the quarter-final, in the sunshine of Pearse Park.[4] The All-Ireland SFC qualifier draw paired Longford with Derry, a high-scoring game which Longford won by two points.[5][6] However, in the next round, Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the county's 2014 championship campaign.[7]

Denis Connerton replaced Sheedy as manager in 2015.[8][9]

Former player Padraic Davis took over as manager in 2018. Davis was given a two-year extension in 2020 until the end of 2022.[10][11] But he quit at the end of the 2021 season after losing to Meath by 22 points, referring to his family, his "property market" job and the difficulties of managing at that level.[12]

See History at Longford GAA.

Current squad[]

Team as per Longford vs Laois in the Leinster SFC quarter-final, 8 November 2020

No. Player Position Club
1 Paddy Collum Goalkeeper Fr Manning Gaels
2 Patrick Fox Right Corner Back Mullinalaghta St Columba's
3 Andrew Farrell Full Back Cashel
4 Barry O'Farrell Left Corner Back Carrickedmond
5 Donal McElligott (c) Right Half Back Mullinalaghta St Columba's
6 Gary Rogers Centre Back Mullinalaghta St Columba's
7 Iarla O'Sullivan Left Half Back Rathcline
8 Darren Gallagher Midfield St Mary's Granard
9 Kevin Diffley Midfield Ballymahon
10 Dessie Reynolds Right Half Forward Seán Connollys
11 Rian Brady Centre Forward Mullinalaghta St Columba's
12 Colm P. Smyth Left Half Forward Abbeylara
13 Daniel Mimnagh Right Corner Forward Killoe Young Emmets
14 Liam Connerton Full Forward Rathcline
15 Darragh Doherty Left Corner Forward Rathcline
No. Player Position Club
16 David Mulvihill Substitute Rathcline
17 Joseph Hagan Substitute Dromard
18 Robbie Smyth Substitute Abbeylara
19 Liam Hughes Substitute Killoe Young Emmets
20 Shane Farrell Substitute Kenagh
21 Peter Lynn Substitute Longford Slashers
22 P. J. Masterson Substitute Abbeylara
23 Aidan McGuire Substitute Carrickedmond
24 Gerard Flynn Substitute Longford Slashers
25 Enda Macken Substitute Colmcille
26 Larry Moran Substitute Killoe Young Emmets

Current management team[]

Team of the Millennium[]

Longford's Team of the Millenium was unique as it contained the only father and son combination in the country; Drumlish's Jim Hannify Snr and Jnr. The start of the new millennium also saw the selection of Longford's Team of the Millennium as follows:

Position Player Club
Goalkeeper John Heneghan Ballymahon
Right Corner Back Seamus Flynn Clonguish
Full Back Larry Gillen Ardagh St Patrick's
Left Full Back Billy Morgan Killoe Young Emmets
Right Half Back Brendan Barden Clonguish
Centre Half Back Mick Casey Cashel
Left Half Back Eamon Meagher Éire Óg
Midfield Jim Hannify Snr. Drumlish & Éire Óg
Midfield Jimmy Flynn Clonguish
Right Half Forward Jackie Devine Mostrim
Center Half Forward Vincent Tierney St Mary's Granard
Left Half Forward Jimmy Hannify Jnr Éire Óg
Right Full Forward Dessie Barry Longford Slashers
Full Forward Joe Regan St Mary's Granard
Left Full Forward Sean Donnelly Longford Slashers

Honours[]

All-Irelands
Provincials
Leagues

References[]

  1. ^ a b O'Riordan, Ian (9 September 2009). "Hackett is surprise choice for Westmeath". The Irish Times.
  2. ^ Denis Connerton to retake Longford reins RTÉ Sport
  3. ^ Longford rally to deny Faithful County RTÉ Sport
  4. ^ Lyng masterclass sees Wexford pip Longford RTÉ Sport
  5. ^ All-Ireland Football qualifier: Derry 2-14 2-16 Longford BBC Sport
  6. ^ Longford cause major shock with football qualifier win over league finalists Derry The42.ie
  7. ^ Tipperary into round 3 of football qualifiers The Nenagh Guardian
  8. ^ Familiar face returns to senior inter-county management in Leinster The42.ie
  9. ^ Longford boss Denis Connerton: 'Dublin were awesome... the Real Madrid of football' RTÉ Sport
  10. ^ "Davis handed another two years with Longford". Hogan Stand. 2 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Longford extend Padraic Davis' reign as manager until end of 2022". RTÉ Sport. 1 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Padraic Davis calls time with Longford after heavy Meath defeat". RTÉ. 4 July 2021.
  13. ^ Longford end 20-year wait for O'Byrne Cup success with victory over Offaly Irish Independent
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