2020 Longford Senior Football Championship

The 2020 Longford Senior Football Championship is the 104th 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 (103 completed since 1890, 1 started but not completed in 1891). The 2020 tournament was originally supposed to consist of 10 teams, but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games, a total of 12 teams will compete this year (due to Rathcline and St. Mary's Granard receiving a reprieve from relegation to the 2020 I.F.C.).[1] The championship starts with a group stage and then progresses to a knock out stage.

Longford S.F.C.
Season2020
Champions??? (??th title)
RelegatedNone
Winning CaptainTBC
Man of the MatchTBC
Winning ManagerTBC
Matches played19
← 2019
2021 →

Killoe Young Emmets are the defending champions after they defeated Longford Slashers in the previous year's final. However the Killoe club received a 48-week ban from the Longford Hearing Committee in August 2020 which would rule them out of defending their title in 2020.[2] The ban was appealed to, and deemed illegitimate and quashed by, the GAA's Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA) in September 2020.[3]

This year was Fr. Manning Gaels' return to the top-flight for the first time since the 2017 season after claiming the 2019 Longford I.F.C. title.[4]

Rathcline and St. Mary's Granard were supposed to be relegated to the I.F.C. for 2020.[5] However, due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire to maintain a 12 team S.F.C. for the 2020 Championship, the two clubs were given a reprieve.

Covid 19 Impact

Due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, spectator numbers at group matches were restricted due to requirement for social distancing. By the knock-out stages, spectators were not allowed to attend matches at all, and by mid September spectators were limited to maximum of 200. Most of the 2020 Senior Football Championship was streamed live for the first time to allow supporters who could not attend games to watch the games live via the 'An Longfort TV' online streaming service. The Semi Final stages of the Longford Senior Football Championship were postponed following an announcement on 25 September 2020 of two positive Covid-19 cases within the Killoe club. Those two positives were announced as active members of a GAA club, however the source was not GAA related. Public Health Authorities were liaising with the club and players in question and the work involved in contact tracing then commenced. The County board made the decision to postpone the Senior Championship Semi-Final games as well as the Intermediate Football Final too. All games were re-arranged for alternate dates in early October 2020.[6] However just before the Semi Final games were due to be played, the GAA announced on 5 October that all club activity nationwide would be halted due to Covid-19 spread.[7] The Longford County Board announced later in October 2020 that all unfinished competition which had started in 2020 (including the Senior Football Championship) would conclude in early 2021 instead.

Team Changes

[8][9][10][11]

The following teams have changed division since the 2019 championship season.

To S.F.C.

Promoted from 2019 I.F.C.

  • Fr. Manning Gaels - (Intermediate Champions)

Group Stage

There 12 teams spread across Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4. The top two finishers in each group qualify for the Quarter-Finals, with pairings decided by open draw. The bottom finishers of each group will not progress and there will be no Relegation Play Off in 2020 (relegation & promotion was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic). All games were played at neutral venues.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Knockout stage

The winners and runners up of each group qualify for the quarter finals. The 2020 Championship Semi-Final and Final stages are played in 2021 due to delays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

Quarter-Finals (2020) Semi-Finals (2021) Final (2021)
Abbeylara 0-10  
Mostrim 1-14     Mostrim  
Killoe Young Emmets 1-13     Killoe Young Emmets  
St. Mary's Granard 1-8       TBC
Colmcille 2-10       TBC
Mullinalaghta 1-15     Mullinalaghta
Longford Slashers 1-9     Longford Slashers    
Fr. Manning Gaels 1-7  

Quarter-Finals
06 September 2020
5:30pm
Quarter-Final		 Mullinalaghta St. Columba's 1-15 : 2-10 Colmcille Pearse Park
Attendance: Nil
Referee: Fergal Kelly
06 September 2020
8pm
Quarter-Final		 Longford Slashers 1-9 : 1-7 Fr. Manning Gaels Pearse Park
Attendance: Nil
Referee: Mark Glancy
20 September 2020
4pm
Quarter-Final		 Abbeylara 0-10 : 1-14 Mostrim Pearse Park
Attendance: Nil
Referee: David Tiernan
Connor Berry (0-1), Cian Brady (0-1), Ciaran Scanlon (0-1); Robbie Smyth (0-2), Cathal Gilligan (0-2). Seamus Hannon (0-1), Alan O’Hara (0-2), Cillian Lynn (0-1), Tiarnan Hussey (0-1); Padraig Joyce (1-2), Brian Farrell (0-2), Darragh Doherty (0-5).
20 September 2020
1pm
Quarter-Final		 St. Marys Granard 1-8 : 1-13 Killoe Young Emmets Pearse Park
Attendance: Nil
Referee: Hugh O Kane
Darren Gallagher (1-3), Jordan Martin (0-4), Liam Sullivan (0-1). Denis McGoldrick (0-1), Daniel Mimnagh (0-1), Cian Farrelly; Mark Hughes (0-6), Larry Moran (0-3), Ciaran Donohoe (1-1), Euan Finneran (0-1).

Semi-Finals
Q1 2021
Semi-Final		 Longford Slashers -vs- Mullinalaghta St. Columba's Pearse Park
Referee: TBC
Q1 2021
Semi-Final		 Mostrim -vs- Killoe Young Emmets Pearse Park
Referee: TBC

Final
Q1 2021
Final		 ??? -vs- ??? Pearse Park
Referee: TBC

Leinster Senior Club Football Championship

The 2020 Leinster Senior Club Football Championship was cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games.

References
  1. "Longford SFC relegation explained: Mostrim dramatically survive as inferior score difference sees Granard and Rathcline make the drop to Intermediate". Longford leader.ie. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  2. "Longford champions Killoe rocked by 48-week ban". 12 August 2020.
  3. "Disrupted Longford SFC to resume as Killoe win appeal". 6 September 2020.
  4. "Longford 2019 IFC final: Goals crucial as Fr Manning Gaels capture the Gerry Hennessy Cup". Longfordleader.ie. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  5. "Longford SFC relegation explained: Mostrim dramatically survive as inferior score difference sees Granard and Rathcline make the drop to intermediate". www.longfordleader.ie.
  6. "Longford semi-finals off due to Covid-19 concerns". 25 September 2020.
  7. "GAA suspends club games at all levels following social distancing 'breaches'". belfasttelegraph.
  8. "Longford Leader Archives". Irishnewsarchive.com. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  9. "HoganStand Longford". HoganStand.com. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  10. "Longford Leader". Longfordleader.ie. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  11. "Longford GAA Official Website". Longfordgaa.ie. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
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