Longford county football team

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 Padraic Davis.

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.

History

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

When they lost a replayed Leinster semi-final in 1970 it was their fourth semi-final in six years. Victories over Westmeath and Wicklow in 1988 left the county on the verge of a Leinster final after 20 years. The team played well against Dublin and led by three points at half-time. Team manager and sports psychologist Brendan Hackett has cited what happened next as an example of lack of self-belief in extremis: Dublin drew level with 20 minutes remaining and won by 18 points.

Since first getting the taste in 1928, Longford like to beat Meath in the Championship, and shocked them in 1982. They 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 4 from the first 5, but defeats to Monaghan and Kildare in the final round meant there was no promotion. The championship started with a terrific win over Louth in Navan to set up a quarter final against the Dubs. They ultimately won well in the Croke Park clash. 2001 also saw the introduction of the back door, or qualifiers. Longford's first second chance outing was away to Wicklow, where the garden county men won 1-14 to 0-11.

Denis Connerton managed the team between 2004 and 2007.[1]

Glenn Ryan manager 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 Championship campaign finally yielded a win over Offaly for new manager Jack Sheedy on a scoreline of 0-19 to 0-15,[2] but Wexford defeated them in the Quarter Final, losing by 1-13 to 1-15 in the sunshine of Pearse Park.[3] The qualifiers took them to Derry where Longford won by two points in a high scoring game.[4][5] However, in the next round, Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the 2014 championship campaign.[6]

Denis Connerton replaced Sheedy as manager in 2015.[7][8]

Former player Padraic Davis took over as manager in 2018. Davis was given a two-year extension in 2020 until the end of 2022.[9][10]

See History at Longford GAA.

Current squad

Team as per Longford vs Dublin in the Leinster SFC quarter-final, 31 May 2015

No. Player Position Club
1 Paddy Collum Goalkeeper Fr Manning Gaels
2 Dermot Brady (c) Right Corner Back Longford Slashers
3 Barry O'Farrell Full Back Carrickedmond
4 Cian Farrelly Left Corner Back Killoe Young Emmets
5 Colm P. Smyth Right Half Back Abbeylara
6 Barry Gilleran Centre Back Longford Slashers
7 Diarmuid Masterson Left Half Back Dromard
8 Michael Quinn Midfield Killoe Young Emmets
9 Kevin Diffley Midfield Ballymahon
10 Rory Connor Right Half Forward Kenagh
11 Ronan McEntire Centre Forward Dromard
12 Peter Foy Left Half Forward Longford Slashers
13 Barry McKeon Right Corner Forward Colmcille
14 Brian Kavanagh Full Forward Kilmacud Crokes
15 Ross McNerney Left Corner Forward Dromard
No. Player Position Club
16 Garret Higgins Substitute Carrickedmond
17 Fergal Battrim Substitute Abbeylara
18 Thomas Gallagher Substitute St Mary's, Granard
19 Enda Williams Substitute Clonguish
20 Conor Quaine Substitute Legan Sarsfields
21 Aidan Rowan Substitute Cashel
22 Páuric Gill Substitute Fr Manning Gaels
23 Dessie Reynolds Substitute Seán Connollys
24 Liam Connerton Substitute Rathcline
25 Andrew Farrell Substitute Cashel
26 Brendan Devine Substitute Clonguish

Current management team
Extended on 1 December 2020 until end of 2022[10]

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 Patricks
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 Drumlish
Midfield Jim Hannify Snr. Drumlish
Midfield Jimmy Flynn Clonguish
Right Half Forward Jackie Devine Mostrim
Center Half Forward Vincent Tierney Granard
Left Half Forward Jimmy Hannify Jnr. Drumlish
Right Full Forward Dessie Barry Longford Slashers
Full Forward Joe Regan Granard
Left Full Forward Sean Donnelly Longford Slashers

Honours
All Irelands
Provincials
Leagues

References
  1. Denis Connerton to retake Longford reins RTÉ Sport
  2. Longford rally to deny Faithful County RTÉ Sport
  3. Lyng masterclass sees Wexford pip Longford RTÉ Sport
  4. All-Ireland Football qualifier: Derry 2-14 2-16 Longford BBC Sport
  5. Longford cause major shock with football qualifier win over league finalists Derry The42.ie
  6. Tipperary into round 3 of football qualifiers The Nenagh Guardian
  7. Familiar face returns to senior inter-county management in Leinster The42.ie
  8. Longford boss Denis Connerton: 'Dublin were awesome... the Real Madrid of football' RTÉ Sport
  9. "Davis handed another two years with Longford". Hogan Stand. 2 December 2020.
  10. "Longford extend Padraic Davis' reign as manager until end of 2022". RTÉ Sport. 1 December 2020.
  11. Longford end 20-year wait for O'Byrne Cup success with victory over Offaly Irish Independent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.