Longford GAA

The Longford County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Luúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae an Longfort) or Longford GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Longford. The county board is also responsible for the Longford inter-county teams.

Longford GAA
Irish:An Longfort
Province:Leinster
Nickname(s):Midlanders
County colours:Royal blue, Gold          
Ground(s):Pearse Park, Longford
Dominant sport:Gaelic football
Competitions
NFL:Division 3
NHL:Division 3A
Football Championship:Sam Maguire Shield
Hurling Championship:Nicky Rackard Cup
Ladies' Gaelic football:Brendan Martin Cup
Standard kit
Regular kit
Change kit

Longford won their only National Football League title in 1966 with a 1-point victory over Galway in the Home Final and an aggregate win over New York in the Final. They won their only Leinster Senior Football Championship title in 1968 with a 3-9 to 1-4 win over Laois.[1]

History

Despite the small population of the county, Longford emerged to win the 1966 National Football League and 1968 Leinster Senior Football Championship, and have since contributed some outstanding personalities to GAA history.

Crest and colours

Green and white hooped jerseys were used by Longford up to 1918 when a royal blue jersey with a gold sash was adopted. Around 1930 the sash disappeared but the gold trim was retained.

Gaelic football

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.

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 0-16, but Wexford proved to be our annual banana skin in the Quarter Final, losing by 1-13 to 1-15 in the sunshine of Pearse Park. The qualifiers took us to Derry and a mouth-watering tie which turned into an epic encounter with Longford winning by 2 points in a high scoring game. Unfortunately it was back down to earth with a bang in the next round when Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the 2014 championship campaign.[2]

Honours

All Irelands

Provincials

Leagues

Current football squad
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

Squad as per Longford vs Dublin, 2015 Leinster Senior Football Championship, Quarter Final, 31 May 2015

Hurling

Like most of its neighbours, Longford have struggled to compete with the bigger counties as they only have three Hurling teams in the county, Slashers, Wolfe Tones and Clonguish. The county team won the National League Division 3 title in 2002, In 2005 & 2006 they won the Leinster Shield. They won the Lory Meagher Cup, for the first time, in Croke Park on 3 July 2010 and won on a scoreline 1 – 20 to Donegal 1 – 12.

Liam Griffin has said the GAA should be ashamed of itself over its failure in the promotion of hurling.

Australia is 24 hours away, yet we can create a new game with the Aussie Rules lads. Longford and Leitrim are right here, yet we largely ignore them and many others too when it comes to promoting hurling. The new D. J. Carey could be living in Longford, Leitrim or Donegal, but we'll never know. We have failed him. [...] If someone can market coloured gripe water, call it Coca-Cola and clean up worldwide, we should be able to sell hurling in Longford.[3]

Honours

All Irelands (3)


Provincials (3)


Leagues (3)


Other (1)

  • U16 All Ireland Winners (2013)

Ladies' Gaelic football

Honours

Team of the Millennium

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

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.

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.

Camogie

Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, “Our Game, Our Passion,”[4] new camogie clubs are to be established in Longford and a county board formed by 2015.[5]

Clubs

There are 21 [6] active clubs in Co. Longford.

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See also

References
  1. http://www.hoganstand.com/Longford/Profile.aspx
  3. Breheny, Martin (27 October 2012). "All Stars bright lights hide darker side of hurling". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  4. "Final goal for camogie". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  5. National Development Plan 2010-2015, Our Game, Our Passion information page on camogie.ie, pdf download (778k) from Camogie.ie download site
  6. "Club Details". Longford GAA.
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