Longford
Sport:Football
Irish:An Longfort
Nickname(s):Midlanders
County board:Longford GAA
Manager:Paddy Christie
Captain:Patrick Fox
Home venue(s):Pearse Park, Longford
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:Leinster (QF) in 2022
Last championship title:None
Current NFL Division:4
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 Paddy Christie.

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.[1]

History

During the 1960s Mick Higgins was the coach of Longford when it won the National Football League (1966) and its first (and at the time of his death only) Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) (1968). He also led them to an O'Byrne Cup title in 1965.[2]

Jackie Devine set up two goals for Longford in the last six minutes of the 1968 Leinster SFC final to beat Laois by 3-9 to 1-4, where Seán 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, 2000 & 2020.

When Longford lost a replayed Leinster SFC semi-final in 1970 it was the county's fourth semi-final in six years and 8th time reaching the semi-final stage. After 1970, Longford reached the Leinster SFC semi-final twice, in 1988 and 2018 (losing to Dublin on both occasions).[3]

Brendan Hackett managed the team between 1987 and 1990 in his first managerial role at inter-county level.[4] Longford made the 1988 Leinster SFC semi-finals and also two quarter-finals of the National Football League.[4]

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 Leinster Championship, Longford has a decent record 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.

Eamonn Coleman was manager of Longford in 1996 & 1997. He was replaced by Michael McCormack in 1997.[5]

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 was appointed manager in 2001 and managed the team until 2004 when he was replaced by Luke Dempsey.[5]

Glenn Ryan replaced Luke Dempsey as manager and managed the team from 2009. In Ryan's first year in charge Longford were knocked out in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship by Wicklow. They then went into the Qualifiers where they beat Leitrim 0–13 to 0–10 before they ran Kerry close in Round 2 going down 1–12 to 0–11.

Ryan's second year in charge once again seen his side go out in the first round in Leinster losing out to Louth, they once again entered the Qualifiers, in round 1 they pulled off the shock of the championship when they beat Mayo 1–12 to 0–14, in Round 2 Down proved too good and ran out 1–14 to 1–10 winners.

2011 started out well for Ryan and Longford when they beat Roscommon by 2–11 to 1–08 to take the National League Div 4 title.

In 2012, Longford again had a good start to the year this time by winning the Div 3 National League title with a win over Wexford giving Ryan and Longford back-to-back titles.

In August 2013, Ryan vacated the Longford senior management role.[6]

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

In October 2013, Jack Sheedy was confirmed as the team's new manager.[7] 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,[8] but a 1-13 to 1-15 defeat to Wexford followed in the quarter-final, in the sunshine of Pearse Park.[9] The All-Ireland SFC qualifier draw paired Longford with Derry, a high-scoring game which Longford won by two points.[10][11] However, in the next round, Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the county's 2014 championship campaign.[12]

Denis Connerton replaced Sheedy as manager in 2015; it was Connerton's second spell in charge having previously managed the team during the 2002 and 2004 seasons.[13][14]

Former player Padraic Davis took over as manager in 2018. Davis was given a two-year extension in 2020 until the end of 2022.[15][16] 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.[17]

Laois native Billy O'Loughlin was appointed Longford manager in November 2021.[18] He resigned at the end of the 2022 season, citing work commitments.[19] Paddy Christie replaced him.[20]

Current panel

Team as per Longford vs Westmeath in O'Byrne Cup Quarter Final, 6th Jan 2024.

No. Player Position Club
1 Micheál Hughes Goalkeeper Killoe Young Emmets
2 Barry O'Farrell Right Corner Back Carrickedmond
3 Oisin O'Toole Full back Dromard
4 Liam Hughes Left Corner Back Killoe Young Emmets
5 Ruairí Harkin Right half back Colmcille
6 Patrick Fox Centre back Mullinalaghta
7 Iarla O'Sullivan Left half back Rathcline
8 Darren Gallagher Midfield St. Mary's Granard
9 Ryan Moffatt Midfield Killoe Young Emmets
10 Daniel Reynolds Right half forward Seán Connollys
11 Daniel Mimnagh Centre forward Killoe Young Emmets
12 Dylan Farrell Left half forward St. Brigids Killashee
13 Jayson Matthews Right corner forward Mullinalaghta
14 Bryn Peters Full forward Rathcline
15 Cathal McCabe Left corner forward Colmcille
No. Player Position Club
16 Paddy Collum Substitute Fr. Manning Gaels
17 Conor Keenan Substitute Fr. Manning Gaels
18 Darragh Finlass Substitute Ballymahon
19 Diarmuid Farrell Substitute Ardagh Moydow
20 Jordan Shiels Substitute St. Mary's Granard
21 Dylan Lynch Substitute Seán Connollys
22 Dáire Duggan Substitute Seán Connollys
23 James Kiernan Substitute St. Mary's Granard
24 Ronan Kavanagh Substitute St. Brigids Killashee
25 Michael Farrell Substitute St. Brigids Killashee
26 Dessie Reynolds Substitute Seán Connollys

INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
RET Player has since retired from the county team.
WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

Ratified for a three-year term in August 2022[20]

- Note: Following selectors stepped down since August 2022: Michael Kenny (08/23), Gareth Johnston (12/23), James Glancy (01/24)

Managerial history

Dates Name Origin
19??–1990 ?
1987–1990 Brendan Hackett   
1990–2002 ?
2002–2004 Denis Connerton   
2004–2008[21][22] Luke Dempsey  
2008–2009? ?
2009–2013 Glenn Ryan  
2013–2015 Jack Sheedy   
2015–2018 Denis Connerton (2?)   
2018–2021 Padraic Davis   
2021–2022[23][24] Billy O'Loughlin   
2022– Paddy Christie   

Players

Notable players

All Stars

Longford has no All Stars.[25]

Team of the Millennium

Longford's Team of the Millennium [26] 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 Eamonn Meagher Drumlish Young Irelands (Éire Óg)
Midfield Jim Hannify Snr. Drumlish/Drumlish Young Irelands
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/Fr. Manning Gaels
Right Full forward Dessie Barry Longford Slashers
Full forward Joe Regan St Mary's Granard
Left Full forward Seán Donnelly Longford Slashers

Honours

National

Provincial

References

  1. ↑ "GAA History". Longford Gaelic Stats.
  2. ↑ Moran, Seán (29 January 2010). "Death of Mick Higgins". The Irish Times.
  3. ↑ "Leinster SFC". Longford Gaelic Stats.
  4. 1 2 O'Riordan, Ian (9 September 2009). "Hackett is surprise choice for Westmeath". The Irish Times.
  5. 1 2 "Past Managers". Longford Gaelic Stats.
  6. ↑ "Glen Ryan steps down as Longford senior football manager". RTÉ. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "Jack Sheedy appointed new Longford manager". Longford Leader. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Longford rally to deny Faithful County RTÉ Sport
  9. ↑ Lyng masterclass sees Wexford pip Longford RTÉ Sport
  10. ↑ All-Ireland Football qualifier: Derry 2-14 2-16 Longford BBC Sport
  11. ↑ Longford cause major shock with football qualifier win over league finalists Derry The42.ie
  12. ↑ Tipperary into round 3 of football qualifiers The Nenagh Guardian
  13. ↑ Familiar face returns to senior inter-county management in Leinster The42.ie
  14. ↑ Longford boss Denis Connerton: 'Dublin were awesome... the Real Madrid of football' RTÉ Sport
  15. ↑ "Davis handed another two years with Longford". Hogan Stand. 2 December 2020.
  16. ↑ "Longford extend Padraic Davis' reign as manager until end of 2022". RTÉ Sport. 1 December 2020.
  17. ↑ "Padraic Davis calls time with Longford after heavy Meath defeat". RTÉ. 4 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "Billy O'Loughlin appointed new Longford football manager". independent.
  19. ↑ "Billy O'Loughlin leaves Longford post after one season". RTÉ. 21 July 2022.
  20. 1 2 Lawlor, Damian (27 August 2022). "Paddy Christie appointed Longford senior football manager". RTÉ.
  21. ↑ "Dempsey takes charge in Longford". RTÉ. 11 September 2004.
  22. ↑ "Dempsey calls time on Longford reign". RTÉ. 19 July 2008.
  23. ↑ Hooper, Dave (30 November 2021). "Billy O'Loughlin named new Longford manager". Shannonside FM.
  24. ↑ "Longford manager Billy O'Loughlin pleased with battling performance in the draw against Louth". Longford Leader. 10 February 2022.
  25. ↑ Breheny, Martin (2 November 2016). "All-Star path needs new direction". Irish Independent. Longford, Carlow, Limerick, Waterford and, of course, Kilkenny have never won a football All-Star award.
  26. ↑ "GAA History". Longford Gaelic Stats.
  27. ↑ "Longford's crowning day of glory". Independent.ie.
  28. ↑ Longford end 20-year wait for O'Byrne Cup success with victory over Offaly Irish Independent
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