A year which started brightly turned out to be a major disappointment for Longford who struggled in the National League and also failed to register a win in the championship. Needless to say, team captain Liam Keenan is hoping 2009 will prove to be more successful for the midlanders. Longford's season could be compared to a runner who came sprinting out of the starting blocks, only to be quickly overtaken by the chasing pack. In early February, Longford supporters travelled to Parnell Park for a Friday night O'Byrne Cup final against Dublin in high spirits. Over the previous few weekends, they had seen their team dispose of the challenges of Kildare, Meath and a star-studded DCU side. For long stages of the final, the midlanders looked like taking another prized scalp but two late goals from Jason Sherlock saw Dublin snatch an unlikely 2-12 to 1-14 victory and left the visitors' shell-shocked. It could be argued that Longford never fully recovered from that heartbreaking loss. The National League proved a real struggle for Luke Dempsey's charges with a final round victory over Sligo only staving off the threat of relegation to Division 4 and elimination to the Tommy Murphy Cup. The championship brought little joy either as familiar foes Westmeath and Laois ended their interest for another year. "It was a disappointing year and there's no getting away from that fact," admits Longford captain Liam Keenan, who missed the O'Byrne Cup final with a hamstring injury. "We changed things around a bit by bringing in Padraig Lynn as trainer in place of Declan Rowley, and we had some very good results in the O'Byrne Cup up until the final when Dublin beat us in the last minute. That probably knocked our confidence a bit and we never really got going in either the league or championship. It wasn't one of our better years," he adds. Longford still have nightmares about how they managed to surrender a four-point lead with just over a minute of normal time remaining against Dublin. The midlanders raced into a four-point lead inside the first five minutes thanks to an unanswered 1-1 from star forward Brian Kavanagh. However, with Alan Brogan in fine form at the other end, Dublin gradually found their feet and had reduced Longford's lead to two points, 1-6 to 0-7, by the interval. The visitors resumed with scores from Francis McGee and Kevin Mulligan and were looking good for victory as they continued to sit on a four-point advantage with time almost up. But then Sherlock fired home his first goal and although Kavanagh responded immediately with a point from play, the vastly experienced Dublin attacker cut in from the left wing and rifled the ball to the net to give the home side a dramatic win. Longford opened their National League Division 3 campaign with a 1-9 to 3-8 defeat to Wexford before bouncing back to beat neighbours Leitrim 2-10 to 0-6 in their second outing. But a run of defeats to Down, Fermanagh and Louth left them in grave danger of being relegated. To their credit, however, they secured the wins they needed to avoid the drop against Limerick (3-5 to 2-6) and Sligo (1-14 to 0-14). The final round clash with reigning Connacht champions Sligo at Pearse Park was a 'do-or-die' affair with not only survival at stake, but also entry into the All-Ireland qualifiers. The sides were level on 0-7 apiece at half-time and a draw could not be ruled out until Jamesie Martin scored the only goal four minutes from the end to ensure Longford's safety. The O'Farrell County had just three weeks to prepare for their Leinster championship opener against Westmeath at Pearse Park, which was the third championship meeting of the midland rivals in 12 months. Longford had staged an amazing second half comeback to win the corresponding game in 2007, but despite rallying late on once again, they left themselves with too much to do as the visitors held on for a 2-10 to 1-10 victory. Most of the damage was inflicted in the first half when an Alan Mangan penalty and a contentious Denis Glennon goal helped Westmeath to a 2-4 to 0-5 lead. It looked all over bar the shouting when Westmeath surged eight points clear midway through the second half, but a quick 1-2 from Longford, which included a trademark Paul Barden goal, ensured a nervous finish for Tomas O Flatharta's men. The midland derby, which opened RTE television's live championship schedule for the second successive year, was a poor spectacle and Keenan puts this down to the fact that it came so soon after the completion of the National League and the familiarity that exists between the two teams. "I don't think it's right that we have been the first team out in the championship for the past three years. We needed more time to prepare for it after the league ended, but I suppose it was the same for both teams," he says. "I wouldn't say it was a case of familiarity breeding contempt, but I think ourselves and Westmeath found it hard to motivate ourselves because of the number of times we have met in the past year. It would have felt more like a championship match if we had been drawn against somebody different. "We've played five championship matches in the past two years and have played just two teams - Westmeath three times, and Laois twice." The defeat to the Lake County left Longford facing a 10-week lay-off before they faced Laois in the All-Ireland qualifiers. Luke Dempsey complained at the time of finding it difficult to organise training and challenge matches due to the fact that the club championship was in full swing in Longford. "The 10-week break was a disaster from the point of view that it was very hard to keep the players interested," the big midfielder remembers. "We all went back to our clubs after the Westmeath game and that's what we concentrated on until about two weeks before the Laois game when we started back training with the county team. Despite the short time we had together, I still think we should have beaten Laois. If we had got that game over us, our season could have taken off." Just as in their 2007 Leinster quarter-final meeting, Longford dominated for long periods but couldn't turn their possession into scores. Laois led by 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time, but Longford were level on 0-6 each within 10 minutes of the restart. Playing in their changed strip of white, Longford then began to find their range and efforts from Brian Kavanagh and Paul Barden had them leading 0-8 to 0-6, and it would have been more had Kavanagh's 53rd minute effort not struck the post. After all their hard work and dominance, Longford were dealt a sucker punch in the 55th minute when Laois teenager Donie Kingston scored the only goal and the O'Moore men never looked back after that, running out winners by 1-10 to 0-11. The defeat brought the curtain down on Luke Dempsey's four-year tenure as manager which reached its high point in 2006 when Longford made it through to the last 12 of the championship where they were eventually stopped by Kerry. While praising the Mullingar-based schoolteacher's efforts with the O'Farrell County, Keenan feels the time is right for a new manager to guide Longford's fortunes. "The new man (Glenn Ryan) coming in will bring a freshness to thing. Hopefully, he will give us the same spark as Jason Ryan gave Wexford and Malachy O'Rourke gave Fermanagh this year." The Ardagh St. Patrick's clubman concluded by saying: "We're looking forward to the new season and the opportunity to put things right. I'd say everyone will be back, with the possible exception of Cathal Conefrey. Our first aim is to get out of Division 3 where we will face a lot of local derbies. If we could achieve that much, it would see us go into the championship in a positive frame of mind." Tweet

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