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Longford GAA thread

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Replying To LongfordSham:  "Well games this year played against two of our neighbours resulted in a 10 & 21 point drubbing, so I think being realistic, the gap is widening, especially as and no disrespect to them, one of those was another Division 4 team with a very small pick of players.

Yes, there is a plan outlined for a more sensible size competing across the 3 grades at senior, which is needed, but this is meant to be 2nd year under the same plan, with multiple teams up to the old tricks in that time frame of not going down, precedent is set at the end of this season for others to do the same.

Totally agree that any improvement is going to be a slow process and we just have to stick with it, we don't have the luxuries of many other counties with what's available to us. I think its definitely a case that we had been spoiled for about 2 decades with what we had at underage and senior. In that period from 2000-2020 we won 2 O'Byrne Cups, some big league wins such as Kerry and others, Won a Division 3 & 4 and were unlucky not to stay in Division 2, became a very competitive team in the championship (Primarily the qualifiers), with some notable wins i.e Derry, Monaghan, Mayo and some near misses against Kerry & Tyrone. But we also produced it at Underage too having won 3 Leinster Minor titles and playing in i think 3 U21 finals. All of that really is an outlier for such a small county like ours, during this period of time we would have fancied our chances against anyone in the country in a one off game, those days are long gone and maybe its just a case that we have reverted to the mean for a county our size?

Hopefully the lads can regroup and try boost the confidence for next year with some wins in the TC and hope that theres another lever in a lot of the young players in our group to fight in Division 3 next year , and take it from there!

Longford Abú"
We were very lucky to have such talent during that period. In a small county like longford its a once in a generational thing. Staying in div 3 next year would be a big win for us. Thats where it is at. The club scene is just not strong at the moment. This is a muti year fix. It is getting more difficult for us year on year.

John45 (Longford) - Posts: 14 - 14/04/2026 21:43:45    2666457

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Replying To liosbreac6265:  "When Longford were top of Division 1 after defeating Kerry there were 16 teams in the senior championship. A much bigger issue has been the collapse in standards across the underage clubs. We have cleaned up with little to no opposition for a number of years now. That is far from boasting it is fact and it has not helped us at senior"
A few months before Longford beat Kerry (and then Westmeath), Clonguish reached the Leinster Club semi-final and came within a whisker of being the first Longford senior club to reach the Leinster final. That period had some unique generational talent including Paul Barden & Padraic Davis who would have slotted into any team in the country at the time. Now we can't buy a win in Leinster club. Something needs to change at club level because you can't wait for generational talent to magically show up. Championship structures is as good a place as any to start, because the current arrangement does nothing for Junior and is producing Intermediate winners who get whiplash from their inevitable drop back down the following year. But it needs clubs to commit rather than crying foul if they are the ones relegated.

Before Clonguish dominated underage in recent years, Killoe dominated it. Before that Northern Gaels dominated for a while. I grew up in the 80s and 90s when underage amalgamations were commonplace and everyone was trying to beat Granard. I never played in a juvenile or minor championship team that wasn't an amalgamation. They have long been a feature of club underage and I don't think now is any more/less than before. Underage players have more facilities, more opportunities, and more games development and promotion structures than we could ever have dreamed of, so it begs the question why underage success is so lobsided (all credit to Clonguish for it), and why we seem unable to develop generational talent, rather than being lucky when it shows up every 15 years or so. I don't know the answer to that.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 665 - 15/04/2026 13:02:08    2666548

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "A few months before Longford beat Kerry (and then Westmeath), Clonguish reached the Leinster Club semi-final and came within a whisker of being the first Longford senior club to reach the Leinster final. That period had some unique generational talent including Paul Barden & Padraic Davis who would have slotted into any team in the country at the time. Now we can't buy a win in Leinster club. Something needs to change at club level because you can't wait for generational talent to magically show up. Championship structures is as good a place as any to start, because the current arrangement does nothing for Junior and is producing Intermediate winners who get whiplash from their inevitable drop back down the following year. But it needs clubs to commit rather than crying foul if they are the ones relegated.

Before Clonguish dominated underage in recent years, Killoe dominated it. Before that Northern Gaels dominated for a while. I grew up in the 80s and 90s when underage amalgamations were commonplace and everyone was trying to beat Granard. I never played in a juvenile or minor championship team that wasn't an amalgamation. They have long been a feature of club underage and I don't think now is any more/less than before. Underage players have more facilities, more opportunities, and more games development and promotion structures than we could ever have dreamed of, so it begs the question why underage success is so lobsided (all credit to Clonguish for it), and why we seem unable to develop generational talent, rather than being lucky when it shows up every 15 years or so. I don't know the answer to that."
When Mullinalaghta won Leinster there was a 12 team senior championship, likewise when the county were last in Division 2 in 2013. It didn't hold either back. The championship structures need to change for the clubs sake. The junior and intermediate ones getting hammerings when promoted and for the senior ones giving out the hammerings. It benefits no one. The point is that it is not the silver bullet to fixing the county team. Our teams walking these underage championships are not particularly strong, I have said it before 1998 and 2003 teams were far better. Barden and Davis did not happen by magic, they were products of years of dedication and coaching. Other clubs have fallen by the wayside and need to get their acts together. Another poster said it is going to be a long process. Longford county board need a strong focus on coaching in the secondary schools, Mels, Granard, Ballymahon, Moyne. It will not be easy as we do not have it all our own way anymore with soccer and rugby also very popular

liosbreac6265 (Longford) - Posts: 283 - 15/04/2026 15:20:59    2666592

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Great win for the under 20's yesterday evening in very difficult conditions.
Tough one the next day against the favourites Louth, but they are in bonus territory now.

Spinx (Longford) - Posts: 1522 - 16/04/2026 07:48:50    2666683

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Well done to the U20 lads - a tough battle in tough conditions last night. A great win for Donal Ledwith and the crew and a much needed bit of uplift on the county scene.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 665 - 16/04/2026 11:33:28    2666726

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Replying To Spinx:  "Great win for the under 20's yesterday evening in very difficult conditions.
Tough one the next day against the favourites Louth, but they are in bonus territory now."
Some really good football played with lots of the team underage again for next year. It shows what can be done when the right people are put in charge. Seven or eight of the team that started last night will be starters next year

Clonbonnyrabbitt (Longford) - Posts: 114 - 16/04/2026 11:44:42    2666729

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Replying To Spinx:  "Great win for the under 20's yesterday evening in very difficult conditions.
Tough one the next day against the favourites Louth, but they are in bonus territory now."
Louth certainly won't take Longford for granted and expect a tough battle in Longford. Looking forward to travelling to the midlands for this one.

Shearer (Louth) - Posts: 921 - 16/04/2026 13:54:15    2666768

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Fair play to ye lads.....I watched the game on youtube.
Conditions were terrible with the downpours but ye got through it!
Tough one now against Louth......ye must have won the coin toss again to have home advantage.
I have to say, the pitch held up a lot better than what I thought it would.
I was up there Sunday, as my club were playing in the Shane Brennan Tournament.
I was told there has being football played non stop every day for the last 3 weeks on that pitch and it still survived after all the rain that fell yesterday.

Oddball (Roscommon) - Posts: 1020 - 16/04/2026 14:57:03    2666794

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