2018 Longford Senior Football Championship

The 2018 Longford Senior Football Championship is the 102nd running of the Longford GAA's premier club Gaelic football tournament for senior graded teams in County Longford, Ireland since the first County Championship was held in 1890 (101 completed since 1890, 1 started but not completed in 1891). The 2018 tournament consisted of 11 teams, with the winner going on to represent Longford in the Leinster Senior Club Football Championship. The championship starts with a group stage and then progresses to a knock out stage.

Longford S.F.C.

Season	2018
Champions	Mullinalaghta (5th title)
Relegated	Ballymahon
Winning Captain	Shane Mulligan
Man of the Match	David McGivney
Winning Manager	Mickey Graham
Matches played	27
← 2017 2019 →

Mullinalaghta St. Columba's retained their title in the final, defeating Abbeylara after a replay to become the first team to win three successive titles since Fr. Manning Gaels in 1998. They went on to become the first Longford club to reach the Leinster Club Senior Football final and the first Longford club to be crowned Leinster champions with victory over Kilmacud Crokes. Mullinalaghta made history by competing in the All Ireland Club Semi-Final, losing out to Dr. Crokes.

This year the number of teams was reduced to 11 after the 2017 Intermediate champions, Rathcline, opted to remain at that grade rather than be promoted. The relegation playoffs scheduled to determine which team would be regraded to Intermediate were cancelled after Ballymahon decided to withdraw and go down to Intermediate for 2019.

Team Changes

[1]

The following teams have changed division since the 2017 championship season.

From S.F.C.

Relegated to 2018 Longford Intermediate Football Championship

• St. Brigid's Killashee
• Fr. Manning Gaels

Group Stage

All 11 teams entered the competition at this stage. Groups A and B each consisted of 4 teams with 3 teams from each group progressing to the Quarter-Finals and last year's finalists being kept apart. Group C consisted of 3 teams, with 2 teams proceeding to the Quarter-Finals. The bottom finishers in each group were to play off to decide relegation to the 2019 I.F.C.

Group A

Team Pld W L D PF PA PD Pts Clonguish 3 2 0 1 51 33 +18 5 Mostrim 3 1 1 1 33 37 -4 3 Abbeylara 3 1 1 1 51 35 +15 3 Ballymahon 3 0 2 1 26 55 -29 1

Round 1: Ballymahon 0-12, 1-9 Mostrim, 20/7/2018, [2] Abbeylara 0-17, 1-14 Clonguish, 21/7/2018,[3] Round 2: Ballymahon 0-4, 0-20 Abbeylara, 29/7/2018, [4] Clonguish 1-8, 0-6 Mostrim, 29/7/2018, [5] Round 3: Clonguish 1-20, 1-7 Ballymahon, 18/8/2018, [6] Mostrim 1-12, 1-11 Abbeylara, 18/8/2018, [7]

Group B

Team Pld W L D PF PA PD Pts Mullinalaghta St. Columba's 3 3 0 0 69 30 +39 6 Colmcille 3 2 1 0 53 49 +4 2 St. Mary's Granard 3 1 2 0 46 54 -8 2 Carrickedmond 3 0 3 0 37 72 -35 0

Round 1: Mullinalaghta St. Columba's 2-17, 0-8 Colmcille, 20/7/2018, [8] St. Mary's Granard 2-17, 2-6 Carrickedmond, 21/7/2018, [9] Round 2: Colmcille 4-13, 1-11 Carrickedmond, 27/7/2018, [10] St. Mary's Granard 0-11, 2-16 Mullinalaghta St. Columba's, 29/7/2018, [11] Round 3: Colmcille 1-17, 1-9 St. Mary's Granard, 19/8/2018, [12] Carrickedmond 1-8, 1-21 Mullinalaghta St. Columba's, 19/8/2018, [13]

Group C

Team Pld W L D PF PA PD Pts Dromard 2 1 0 1 28 27 +1 3 Killoe Young Emmets 2 1 1 0 27 24 +3 2 Longford Slashers 2 0 1 1 26 30 -4 1

Round 1: Dromard 1-12, 2-9 Longford Slashers, 22/7/2018,[14] Killoe Young Emmets - Bye, Round 2: Longford Slashers 0-11, 0-15 Killoe Young Emmets, 28/7/2018,[15] Dromard - Bye, Round 3: Killoe Young Emmets 0-12, 1-10 Dromard, 19/8/2018, [16] Longford Slashers - Bye,

Knockout stage

The top 8 teams from the league stages qualify for the Quarter-Finals.

	Quarter-Finals					Semi-Finals					Final
	Killoe Young Emmets		1-8
	Abbeylara		1-11			Abbeylara		1-10
	Colmcille		1-10			Colmcille		0-10
	St. Mary's Granard		0-9								Abbeylara		1-2 (0-6)
	Mostrim		0-9								Mullinalaghta St. Columba's		2-14 (0-6)
	Mullinalaghta St. Columba's		1-11			Mullinalaghta St. Columba's		0-12
	Clonguish		2-9 (0-13)			Clonguish		1-6
	Dromard		1-7 (2-7)

Quarter-Finals

01/09/2018 6.30 p.m. Quarter-Final	Killoe Young Emmets	1-8 - 1-11	Abbeylara	Pearse Park Referee: Fergal Kelly
	Sean McCormack 1-2 (0-2f), Denis McGoldrick 0-2, Mark Hughes, Daniel Mimnagh, Eamon Keogh, Ciaran Donohoe 0-1 each	Report	Padraig Berry 1-1, Jason Kelly 0-3, Nigel Rabbitte 0-3 (0-1f), Barry McKiernan 0-1f, Brian Smyth, Conor Berry, Cian Brady 0-1 each

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01/09/2018 5.00 p.m. Quarter-Final	Colmcille	1-10 - 0-9	St. Mary's Granard	Pearse Park Referee: Dónal Kane
	Ruairi Harkin 1-1, Rory Hawkins 0-3, Paul McKeon 0-3 (0-2f), Gerard Mulligan, Barry McKeon, Cathal McCabe 0-1 each	Report	Darren Gallagher 0-5 (0-3f), Derek Sheridan 0-3f, Mark Tully 0-1

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08/09/2018 6.30 p.m. Quarter-Final	Mostrim	0-9 - 1-11	Mullinalaghta St. Columba's	Pearse Park Referee: Mark Glancy
	Darragh Doherty 0-3 (0-2f), Brian Farrell 0-2f, Seamus Hannon, Evan Murphy, Sean Noone, Gerard Smith 0-1 each.	Report	Jayson Matthews 1-1, James McGivney 0-4, Donal McElligott 0-2, David McGivney 0-2 (0-1f), Rian Brady, Aidan McElligott 0-1 each

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09/09/2018 6.30 p.m. Quarter-Final	Clonguish	0-13 - 2-7	Dromard	Pearse Park Referee: Aidan Dowler
	Joe O'Brien 0-10 (0-8f), Paul Barden 0-2, Kevin Burke 0-1	Report	Cian Mimnagh 2-0, Francis McGee 0-3 (0-1f), Jamesie Martin 0-3 (0-1f), Ronan McEntire 0-1

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16/09/2018 1.45 p.m. Quarter-Final Replay	Clonguish	2-9 - 1-7	Dromard	Pearse Park Referee: Fergal Kelly
	Joe O'Brien 0-5 (0-4f), David Barden, Darragh McLoughlin 1-0 each, Peter Hanley, Shane O'Brien, Darren Quinn, Conor Shields 0-1 each	Report	Cian Mimnagh 1-0, Joe Hagan 0-3, Francis McGee 0-3f, Jamesie Martin 0-1f

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Semi-Finals

16/09/2018 3.30 p.m. Semi-Final	Abbeylara	1-10 - 0-10	Colmcille	Pearse Park Referee: Aidan Dowler
	Conor Berry 1-1, Nigel Rabbitte 0-3 (0-2f), Barry McKiernan 0-2 (0-1f), Fergal Battrim, PJ Masterson, Brian Smyth, Cian Brady 0-1 each	Report	Barry McKeon 0-3 (0-2f), Paul McKeon 0-3f, Ruairi Harkin 0-2, Rory Hawkins 0-1f, Declan Farrell 0-1

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22/09/2018 5.30 p.m. Semi-Final	Mullinalaghta St. Columba's	0-12 - 1-6	Clonguish	Pearse Park Referee: Patrick Maguire
	Jayson Matthews 0-4, David McGivney 0-3 (0-1f), Rian Brady 0-3 (0-2f), Shane Mulligan, Donal McElligott 0-1 each.	Report	Joe O'Brien 0-5 (0-4f), Conor Shields 1-0, David Barden 0-1.

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Final

07/10/2018 4.00 p.m. Final	Abbeylara	0-6 - 0-6	Mullinalaghta St. Columba's	Pearse Park, Longford Referee: Donal Kane
	Nigel Rabbitte 0-4 (0-1f), Jason Kelly 0-1, Barry McKiernan 0-1f	Report	Rian Brady 0-2f, David McGivney 0-1, Dónal McElligott 0-1, Gary Rogers 0-1'45'

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14/10/2018 3.45 p.m. Final Replay	Abbeylara	1-2 - 2-14	Mullinalaghta St. Columba's	Pearse Park, Longford Referee: Fergal Kelly Man of the Match: David McGivney
	Colm P. Smyth 1-0, Robbie Smyth 0-1, Nigel Rabbitte 0-1f	Report	Rian Brady 1-3, Shane Mulligan 1-1, Jayson Matthews 0-3, David McGivney 0-3f, Michael Cunningham Jr. 0-2, Brendan Fox 0-1, John Keegan 0-1

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Relegation Playoff

Ballymahon, Carrickedmond and Longford Slashers were scheduled to play off in a three-team group, with the bottom team being relegated to Intermediate for 2019. However, after the draw had been made, Ballymahon decided to withdraw and voluntarily regrade to Intermediate for the following season.

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship

References

1. "Longford Leader Archives". Irishnewsarchive.com. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
2. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Last gasp Colm Flynn point earns Ballymahon a well deserved draw against Mostrim". Longford Leader. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
3. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Robbie Smyth scores late, late equaliser as Abbeylara earn a draw against Clonguish". Longford Leader. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
4. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Abbeylara in complete control in very easy win over Ballymahon". Longford Leader. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
5. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Shane O'Brien goal the matchwinner for Clonguish against Mostrim". Longford Leader. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
6. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Clonguish far too strong for Ballymahon". Longford Leader. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
7. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Robbie Smyth injured as Abbeylara suffer defeat against Mostrim". Longford Leader. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
8. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Title holders Mullinalaghta far too strong for Colmcille". Longford Leader. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
9. Liam Cosgrove. "Longford SFC: St Mary's Granard come out on top in clash against Carrickedmond". Longford Leader. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
10. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Colmcille score comprehensive win over Carrickedmond". Longford Leader. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
11. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Mullinalaghta turn on the power in the second half in comprehensive win over Granard". Longford Leader. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
12. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Colmcille gradually assert superiority over St Mary's Granard". Longford Leader. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
13. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Mullinalaghta score emphatic victory over Carrickedmond". Longford Leader. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
14. Deniese O'Flaherty. "Longford SFC: Dromard snatch draw against Slashers with stoppage time goal". Longford Leader. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
15. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Killoe prove too strong for Slashers". Longford Leader. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
16. Padraic O'Brien. "Longford SFC: Cian Mimnagh lands terrific winning point as Dromard beat Killoe". Longford Leader. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

External links