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Longford GAA thread

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Replying To Inatfullforward:  "What year did we beat yee in Div 4 League final?? It was in Croke Park I remember and must have been surely 10 years ago? Watching Paul Barden in full flight was an absolute joy, such a magnificent player.
Yee have come some journey since then and have remained so consistent."
2011. Longford won that Division 4 final 2-11 to 1-8 and both were promoted to Division 3. Since then Roscommon won 2 Connacht titles, been in 5 Connacht finals, won 3 FBD Leagues, won 1 Division 3 and 4 Division 2 titles, stayed between Divisions 1 & 2 for 9 seasons now (5 of those in Division 1), and currently top of Division 1. Also won 4 Connacht U20/U21 and 3 Connacht Minor titles in that period.

In the same period Longford won Division 3 in 2012, won 2 O'Byrne Cups and reached a Leinster Semi Final for the first time in 30 years, about which the less said the better. Granted their population is 70,000 and ours is 47,000 but the contrast in journey since that 2011 final is stark!

If our rebuild from the bottom up is as successful as Roscommons, I'd be a happy man.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 470 - 22/02/2023 15:11:55    2459779

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Great point to get considering the second half collapse. Hopefully Christie now see's Foy shouldn't be near the panel to be fair. Still alive and 2 wins out of the remaining games will keep longford up

williesboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 340 - 26/02/2023 16:01:55    2460292

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Replying To williesboy:  "Great point to get considering the second half collapse. Hopefully Christie now see's Foy shouldn't be near the panel to be fair. Still alive and 2 wins out of the remaining games will keep longford up"
Listened to the game on the radio. Sounded like Foy had a great game. Albeit I wasn't there but interested on why you say that? Longford were flying first have no? Seemed like he went only a couple of minutes into the second half with an injury.

Edman78 (Westmeath) - Posts: 100 - 26/02/2023 16:49:59    2460323

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Replying To Edman78:  "Listened to the game on the radio. Sounded like Foy had a great game. Albeit I wasn't there but interested on why you say that? Longford were flying first have no? Seemed like he went only a couple of minutes into the second half with an injury."
No they got 2 points of him in the first half by turning over the ball, he wouldn't tag him man and was the cause of the goal in the second half.

williesboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 340 - 26/02/2023 17:15:51    2460343

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Replying To Edman78:  "Listened to the game on the radio. Sounded like Foy had a great game. Albeit I wasn't there but interested on why you say that? Longford were flying first have no? Seemed like he went only a couple of minutes into the second half with an injury."
No offense meant was it game he wasnt only one but he was brutal dont know what game they were at. Have to say rian brady and dylan farrell made a difference at the end

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 213 - 26/02/2023 17:16:23    2460345

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Replying To williesboy:  "Great point to get considering the second half collapse. Hopefully Christie now see's Foy shouldn't be near the panel to be fair. Still alive and 2 wins out of the remaining games will keep longford up"
Anyone of 1 to 15 could of been taken off so wouldnt single out foy. It is crazy that christie is going with a man nearly 40 over young talent and thats no criticsism of foy who has given great service at all levels to longford owes nobody anything but time catches up. Backwards we are going and fast. We have managed to be even worse in this second half then the cavan and westmeath one. Look like a struggling division 4 team at teh moment

slasher9 (Longford) - Posts: 233 - 26/02/2023 17:46:33    2460364

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Replying To Gaaforlife2023:  "No offense meant was it game he wasnt only one but he was brutal dont know what game they were at. Have to say rian brady and dylan farrell made a difference at the end"
Ok Fair enough, as I say i wasn't there. I like watching him play up here in Westmeath and take and interest because of that. He's a great player and no shame in going back in to help out his county. Longford were so dominant in the first half by the sounds of it that it's hard to think he was "brutal". I was at the Westmeath game and that was what you'd call brutal. So he couldn't be that bad. He probably takes a lot of eyes and heavy criticism because of his age and the condition he's in. It's shines a spotlight on others.

Things are tight now for Longford to stay up. A point was probably a result neither team wanted. Hope yee stay up.

Edman78 (Westmeath) - Posts: 100 - 26/02/2023 17:47:25    2460367

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Longford have been poor in the second half of each game.

Scored just 2 points in second half against Fermanagh, both of these in the first 10 minutes.
Scored just one point in the second half against Westmeath, this coming with 5 minutes of normal time left.
Scored 6 points in the second half against Cavan but the game was over at half time.
Scored 5 points in the second half with the first of these points coming with 3 minutes of normal time left.

We have scored the least from any team in the 4 divisions.

Only Waterford have conceded more than us in all 4 divisions. 1 point more but they have also scored 1 point more so we are both joint worst score difference.

I think we have a reasonable run in. Offaly and Antrim at home is what we would want. Down away is always a tough game for us so I wouldn't expect much there given the form of both teams. It could well be a case of the winner of the last game, Longford v Antrim, deciding who stays up and who goes down. The only result that could throw the cat among the pigeons is for Offaly to beat Longford next week then take the foot of the pedal and lose to Tipperary. That could effectively relegate Longford because our score difference is so bad and head to head won't apply if Longford and Tipperary both finish with 3 points.

Antrim have Westmeath, Cavan and Longford. Longford is the only realistic win for them I think.
Tipperary have Fermanagh, Offaly and Westmeath. I think Offaly is the only realistic win for them.
Offaly have Longford, Tipperary and Down. They have two games that they could potentially win. One win, or even a draw, will be enough for them.

Mull93 (Longford) - Posts: 119 - 26/02/2023 19:23:00    2460423

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Antrim 4 1 0 3 0 2
Tipperary 4 0 1 3 -23 1
Longford 4 0 1 3 -37 1

Longford not relegated yet still a glimmer of hope, beat OY next week and OY could be in trouble, LD need to start winning matches, other results will go their way too imo.

pologrounds1947 (Cavan) - Posts: 24 - 27/02/2023 10:33:28    2460566

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Replying To Gaaforlife2023:  "No offense meant was it game he wasnt only one but he was brutal dont know what game they were at. Have to say rian brady and dylan farrell made a difference at the end"
Listening to radio here in Dublin Foy failed to collect a David mcgivney cross field pass in the halfback line. Straightforward forward mistake I didn't pick up that he or anyone else was having a great game. Tierney calling for major changes in half back line . By the sounds of things he not wrong. Also from listening and reading between the lines we need to at pace around the middle and get ball to scoring zone faster. Btw any word on what age the minor championship is going to be played in Longford. A lot of counties going u18 but some like Westmeath waiting until 2024 to revert back to u18.
With county left at u17 I thought club would stay at that.

jack99 (Dublin) - Posts: 26 - 28/02/2023 17:47:14    2461029

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Replying To jack99:  "Listening to radio here in Dublin Foy failed to collect a David mcgivney cross field pass in the halfback line. Straightforward forward mistake I didn't pick up that he or anyone else was having a great game. Tierney calling for major changes in half back line . By the sounds of things he not wrong. Also from listening and reading between the lines we need to at pace around the middle and get ball to scoring zone faster. Btw any word on what age the minor championship is going to be played in Longford. A lot of counties going u18 but some like Westmeath waiting until 2024 to revert back to u18.
With county left at u17 I thought club would stay at that."
Longford going back to u18 - meeting tomorrow on it

honda15 (Longford) - Posts: 94 - 01/03/2023 08:49:09    2461074

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Replying To honda15:  "Longford going back to u18 - meeting tomorrow on it"
Assume that includes going back to u16 and u14 too?

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 470 - 01/03/2023 10:39:03    2461116

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "Assume that includes going back to u16 and u14 too?"
Yes going back to even age groups across the board.
It is the right decision in my opinion. Many are suggesting that Clonguish will walk the minor again but its not just that age group effected.
It worked for years at even age groups and it was changed for whatever stupid reason.

honda15 (Longford) - Posts: 94 - 01/03/2023 10:50:14    2461124

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Replying To honda15:  "Yes going back to even age groups across the board.
It is the right decision in my opinion. Many are suggesting that Clonguish will walk the minor again but its not just that age group effected.
It worked for years at even age groups and it was changed for whatever stupid reason."
Great decision, it should never have been changed to begin with. Our own Eugene McGee was instrumental in moving it to odd numbers. Obviously meant well but I cannot see how it could not be foreseen the issues it would bring.

liosbreac6265 (Longford) - Posts: 210 - 01/03/2023 11:59:24    2461157

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Replying To liosbreac6265:  "Great decision, it should never have been changed to begin with. Our own Eugene McGee was instrumental in moving it to odd numbers. Obviously meant well but I cannot see how it could not be foreseen the issues it would bring."
McGee wrote an article back in 2015 advocating for odd number competitions and for scrapping U-21 and U-18. The link will probably be behind a paywall for many, so here is the gist of his argument at the time...

Today we have up to 30 third-level institutions and virtually any Leaving Cert student who wishes to can register for a third-level college. So in reality the need that was listed for the formation of the U-21 grade in 1964 has long been provided for by the third-level colleges. A glance at these competitions shows that the vast majority of U-21 players with inter-county potential are now playing and training with the third-level colleges and many of these have higher standards of preparation and competition than most U-21 county teams. In short, the reasons for promoting the U-21 grade 50 years ago are now largely redundant because young men of that age group are nowadays getting top-class team preparation and plenty of college games of a very high standard. And, as we all discover every year from January to March, there is actually a ridiculous overuse of these players between college and county U-21 games. In fact, the correct description of this activity is abuse of those players by some managers related to county or college teams.

When we turn to U-21 at club level, it is seen that this grade is a prime cause of club fixture congestion and/or abuse of players leading to burnout. Boys aged 16 have up to now been roped in to make up U-21 teams and if a person is a dual player then mayhem is the only word to describe what is going on regarding fixtures. The GAA has a remarkable facility for turning their backs on these problems and we never see any competition in the GAA being scrapped. Instead more and more competitions are being added all the time, which makes the task of national fixtures committees in Croke Park practically impossible despite valiant attempts to rectify things.

The hard decision and the correct one for the GAA to face up to is to scrap both U-18 and U-21 as separate entities and opt instead for an U-21 competition at club and county level. There are so many positives for such a proposal that it is astonishing that enough thinking GAA members will not bite the bullet on this. Players aged 19 today are well able to play inter-county football if they are good enough, thereby undermining the original purpose for county U-21. Young men today are much more mature and more knowledgeable about the science of sport than their predecessors of 50 years ago so this proposed change is necessary. In most club teams at least half the players are minors at present, which defeats the purpose of U-21 in the first place. An U-19 grade, preceded by U-17 grade, would work wonders for fixture-making. Students, in many cases including Leaving Cert and A-Level students, would be freed from the pressure of county minor competitions to the relief of thousands of parents annually. Somebody with real clout in the GAA has to take a stand on this and the quicker the better. Doing nothing is not an answer.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 470 - 01/03/2023 18:28:10    2461298

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "McGee wrote an article back in 2015 advocating for odd number competitions and for scrapping U-21 and U-18. The link will probably be behind a paywall for many, so here is the gist of his argument at the time...

Today we have up to 30 third-level institutions and virtually any Leaving Cert student who wishes to can register for a third-level college. So in reality the need that was listed for the formation of the U-21 grade in 1964 has long been provided for by the third-level colleges. A glance at these competitions shows that the vast majority of U-21 players with inter-county potential are now playing and training with the third-level colleges and many of these have higher standards of preparation and competition than most U-21 county teams. In short, the reasons for promoting the U-21 grade 50 years ago are now largely redundant because young men of that age group are nowadays getting top-class team preparation and plenty of college games of a very high standard. And, as we all discover every year from January to March, there is actually a ridiculous overuse of these players between college and county U-21 games. In fact, the correct description of this activity is abuse of those players by some managers related to county or college teams.

When we turn to U-21 at club level, it is seen that this grade is a prime cause of club fixture congestion and/or abuse of players leading to burnout. Boys aged 16 have up to now been roped in to make up U-21 teams and if a person is a dual player then mayhem is the only word to describe what is going on regarding fixtures. The GAA has a remarkable facility for turning their backs on these problems and we never see any competition in the GAA being scrapped. Instead more and more competitions are being added all the time, which makes the task of national fixtures committees in Croke Park practically impossible despite valiant attempts to rectify things.

The hard decision and the correct one for the GAA to face up to is to scrap both U-18 and U-21 as separate entities and opt instead for an U-21 competition at club and county level. There are so many positives for such a proposal that it is astonishing that enough thinking GAA members will not bite the bullet on this. Players aged 19 today are well able to play inter-county football if they are good enough, thereby undermining the original purpose for county U-21. Young men today are much more mature and more knowledgeable about the science of sport than their predecessors of 50 years ago so this proposed change is necessary. In most club teams at least half the players are minors at present, which defeats the purpose of U-21 in the first place. An U-19 grade, preceded by U-17 grade, would work wonders for fixture-making. Students, in many cases including Leaving Cert and A-Level students, would be freed from the pressure of county minor competitions to the relief of thousands of parents annually. Somebody with real clout in the GAA has to take a stand on this and the quicker the better. Doing nothing is not an answer."
He chaired the FRC which ended up being the driving force behind the change. Had what was written in that article been attempted instead of the crazy jump from u17 straight to senior football there could have been success.

liosbreac6265 (Longford) - Posts: 210 - 02/03/2023 12:48:21    2461387

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I was told the other day that there is a problem on why no league fixtures are posted yet. Apparently Connollys do not want to go up to Div 1. Ardagh/Moydow want to go up instead if Connollys are not. They are claiming that on a normal league system they would of ended up on more points than Connollys!! And to add to the drama, Killashee do not want to play Div 3 and are claiming that the CB did not accommodate them last year and are now refusing to go down!! Did anyone else her this?

Spinx (Longford) - Posts: 1236 - 03/03/2023 18:18:47    2461665

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Replying To Spinx:  "I was told the other day that there is a problem on why no league fixtures are posted yet. Apparently Connollys do not want to go up to Div 1. Ardagh/Moydow want to go up instead if Connollys are not. They are claiming that on a normal league system they would of ended up on more points than Connollys!! And to add to the drama, Killashee do not want to play Div 3 and are claiming that the CB did not accommodate them last year and are now refusing to go down!! Did anyone else her this?"
And we wonder why we are in a mess at county level.....

B&G (Longford) - Posts: 276 - 03/03/2023 20:11:48    2461678

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Replying To B&G:  "And we wonder why we are in a mess at county level....."
That is just what I was told,it could just be a load of codswallop. But the leagues are supposed to start around Paddy's weekend, but here we are 2 weeks before it and nothing to show. There must be something going on though!

Spinx (Longford) - Posts: 1236 - 04/03/2023 08:11:54    2461695

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Replying To Spinx:  "I was told the other day that there is a problem on why no league fixtures are posted yet. Apparently Connollys do not want to go up to Div 1. Ardagh/Moydow want to go up instead if Connollys are not. They are claiming that on a normal league system they would of ended up on more points than Connollys!! And to add to the drama, Killashee do not want to play Div 3 and are claiming that the CB did not accommodate them last year and are now refusing to go down!! Did anyone else her this?"
Who was relegated from Division 1? There were two groups and I think the bottom team in each group was Ratchline and Fr Manning Gaels. I don't recall a play-off between the two teams.

Are Killashee also playing in the Junior Championship? I don't know how the County Board could have accommodated them. They were terrible in league and championship. It was embarrassing as a county to have a senior team not field in 5 championship games. They are in Division 3 on merit and if they have been relegated to Junior Championship as a result of last years Senior Championship fiasco then they can have no complaints.

I can understand why Connollys do not want to go up to Division 1 but I cannot understand why Ardagh Moydow would want to go up.

Mull93 (Longford) - Posts: 119 - 04/03/2023 09:42:13    2461705

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