Longford have launched an ambitious gaelic football development plan, aimed at turning the midlanders into Sam Maguire contenders in the future.

The plan '20/20 vision for Longford' will be overseen by former goalkeeper Damien Sheridan who is games development administrator in the county and focusses on areas such as elite player development programmes, a teacher training programme and the establishment of five development squads from U-13 to U-17.

Outgoing Longford minor manager and current U-21 selector Gareth Johnson explained to The Irish Independent: "We asked ourselves hard questions like what are our county minors and U-21s doing when they leave their age grades.

"We, as a county, decided that we could not just let our top players look after their own training programmes but we needed to give then structure, support, funding, and expertise in all areas of their lives.

"If there was an Olympic level for GAA players, how could we help them to reach it, what can we do as a county to help our players be the best they can be?

"We decided to not just talk about it but really put something in place to make Longford football the best it could be. Just because we are small does not mean we are weak as is often stated in national media.

"Why can't we aspire to winning All-Ireland titles?"

The development squad system will be overseen by current Longford U-21 manager and U-16 mentor Frank McNamee.

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