After winning the Junior B FC title in 2004, Longwood did well to get to the last four in the Junior A FC this year and another highlight of the south county club's season was winning the B Football League Division 6 title. Longwood were well represented at inter county level in 2005 with Michael Burke lining out for the Meath senior and under 21 teams. He was the first player from the club to play senior football championship football with the Royal County for over 40 years. Rory Maguire was one of the most impressive players on Dessie Hamilton's junior team and although All-Ireland honours eluded the side, the forward with a niche for scoring goals picked up a Leinster medal. Michael Burke came on as a substitute in three of Meath's senior championship games last summer. The wing forward figured against Antrim, Leitrim and Cavan and got among the scorers in the Leitrim outing at Carrick-on-Shannon. He was the first player from the Longwood club to play senior championship football for Meath since his father, also Michael and well-known as 'Stoney' minded the goal many years ago. In 1959 Michael senior performed the very unusual feat of filling the number one position for Meath minors and seniors on the same afternoon. On May 31st of that year he was between the posts for the Royal County under 18s who beat Longford by 2-7 to 1-6 at Cusack Park, Mullingar. After that game he thought his day's work was done but with senior goalkeeper Eddie Mooney not showing up, young Burke was pressed into action again and it was a disappointing senior debut as Longford won by 2-7 to 1-6. Although starting the campaign with a 1-10 to 1-13 defeat at the hands of Summerhill, Longwood recovered well and only suffered one further loss in the group games. That was by two points to Kilmainham, who went on to reach the semi-final stage. There were victories over Moynalvey, Meath Hill, Navan O'Mahonys, Moylagh and Gaeil Colmcille and the wins by 14 and nine points over Moynalvey and Moylagh, two sides who might have been expected to make bolder bids in the championship, suggested that Longwood were more than able to hold their own in the higher grade. After losing two of their first four games, Michael McDonnell's charges then won three on the trot. They outpointed O'Mahonys by 0-9 to 0-8, mastered Moylagh on a 1-17 to 0-11 scoreline and beat Gaeil Colmcille by 2-12 to 2-5. Then they had a surprise in store for St Ultans. The Bohermeen club who wrested JFC honours as recently as 2000, were some peoples fancy to go all the way again five years later. But Longwood put out Ultans with a 0-11 to 0-10 quarter-final win at Trim, having led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break. Longwood elected to play with the strong wind in their favour in the first half and with Michael Burke, Aaron Ennis and Rory Maguire showing up well in attack, they went into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes. But it looked as if they had plenty to do when their advantage was reduced by the break. However, Longwood resumed in impressive manner and points from Burke, Ennis, Maguire and Wayne Leonard left them seven clear. Although their opponents hit back strongly, Longwood held out to earn another clash with Navan O'Mahonys. That was at Summerhill a week later and Longwood failed to repeat the earlier result as the town club's second string prevailed on a 1-9 to 1-7 scoreline. The south county outfit got away to a fine start with Jim Dorran and Wayne Leonard shooting points in the first couple of minutes and the sides were level, 1-4 each, at the break. Aaron Ennis scored the goal and finished up with 1-2. However, the O'Mahonys defence marked their opponents main attacking threats so well that Burke was held scoreless and Maguire only managed to put one point after his name. With midfielder Enda Dixon unable to resume because of an injury, Longwood brought on Michael McDonnell and the veteran got among the scorers. Longwood were not headed for the first time until early in the final quarter and O'Mahonys outscored them by 0-3 to 0-1 over the last 15 minutes. It was a fine achievement for Longwood to reach the last four in the JFC at their first attempt and they could well capture the title in the not too distant future. Manager McDonnell shared in AlI-Ireland glory as a substitute during the golden 1987-88 period when a Longwood clubman before going to Summerhill for a spell. Longwood captured the B FL Division 6 title with a comprehensive 5-13 to 0-4 victory over Summerhill in the final at Dunsany. Summerhill actually hit the first three scores of the game but after that they only managed one more point as the side in green and white took emphatic control. It was 2-6 to 0-3 at the break after Aaron Ennis found the net twice. Substitute Ian Keenan scored two goals in the one-sided second period and Alan Ennis grabbed one. The Longwood team which was on duty in the B FL Division 6 decider was : J Cully; K Cleary, K Heneghan, D Dixon; J Furey, N Grennan, J Colgan; F Hoey, D Fahy; Aaron Ennis, W. Leonard, P Ayres; Alan Ennis, G Ennis, A Monaghan; Subs - M Weir for Fahy, C Greene for Ayres, I Keenan for Dixon, J Stenson for Alan Ennis, P Doyle for Aaron Ennis. Denis Mulligan from Longwood, who was honoured with a Sean Gael award last September, was a member of the Meath team which won the All-Ireland junior hurling title back in 1948. He was at centrefield on the successful side which beat London by 2-7 to 2-5 at Pairc Tailteann, the teams having drawn at New Eltham. Limerick were defeated in the home final at Portlaoise and Aidan and Fergus Foran were other Longford players on the successful squad. Brian Smyth and Micheal O'Brien, who would be on Meath's famous first All-Ireland senior football winning team the following year, were in the full forward line for the hurling triumph. Denis Mulligan left Longwood for America in 1950 and in 1951 he was a substitute on the New York team which lost to Galway in the National Hurling League final. In those years New York played in the final of the leagues against the home winners, at Croke Park or in New York, and in '51 Meath took the football title while Galway were victorious in the hurling game by 2-11 to 2-8. Over the years Denis has been going back and forward between Longwood and the United States and was a worthy recipient of the Sean Gael award. The Longwood club was celebrating its centenary in 2005. Over the years Longwood have not had many big triumphs to celebrate, the biggest of them being the SHC title triumph nearly 70 years ago in 1936. Then there were a couple of significant football championship victories during the next few years. In 1939 the junior title was annexed and three years later there was an intermediate triumph. Little was heard of Longwood's footballers over the next few decades and the hurlers were mainly keeping the club to the news. They took outright honours in the IHC in 1964, '68, '82, '95 and '98. But they have failed to make much of an impact in the senior hurling grade and in latter years there has been a revival in football fortunes. Following the winning of the Junior C FC in the '90s they reached the final of the junior B championship in 2001 only to lose out to Kilmainham. But they went one better three years later when turning on the style in the last three games to climb another rung up the football ladder and after reaching the last four of the JFC who knows but they go higher in the near future. The Longwood club held a centenary year reunion at the end of September. The night's activities began with a mass, there were displays of memorabilia and the showing of videos. Club members past and present were present and old games were recalled. Like with their neighbours Boardsmill, football appears to have taken over from hurling as the main game in the Longwood club and they will be hoping to see Burke and Maguire figure prominently in the green and gold jersey in 2006. Longwood won just one of their five games in the group stages of the 2005 SHC. That was gained in a high scoring fourth round clash with Navan O'Mahonys which the 'Wood won by 2-20 to 1-18. Before that they lost to Rathmolyon by five points and finished eight points in arrears to both Kiltale and Boardsmill. They then came up against champions to be Killyon at Trim and Longwood were well beaten on a 2-15 to 2-4 scoreline. That after a bright start which yielded two goals in the opening 12 minutes, netted by Aaron and Karl Ennis. But after that Longwood were very much second best and that was mainly the story of their SHC campaign this year. Tweet

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