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Longford GAA thread

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Replying To Oddball: "Lads, I'm just after looking back over the history of winners of the Longford Championship and I just wanted to get peoples take on the lack of championships for town/big village teams. In Roscommon we have Roscommon Gaels who have gone 19 years without a title, Castlereagh 14 years and Boyle 96 years!! In Longford you have Longford Slashers 10 years (not really a big drought!), Ballymahon 21 years (only 1 title), Mostrim 31 years (3 titles), Granard 41 years and Rathcline 47 years (only 1 title). For Mostrim and Granard to go 31 and 41 years without a title is astounding. Also, for clubs like Ballymahon and Rathcline only having won 1 title each is a strange one considering the size of Ballymahon and Lanesboro is a decnt size village/town. Looking in from the outside discounting Slashers, all these other teams are bordering other counties. Have players in the past thrown in their lot with clubs across the border or are there other reasons for the lack of success? I just would be interested in Longford peoples take on this." There are 2 clubs in the parish of Granard which would impact competitiveness NorthLongfordforlife (Longford) - Posts: 8 - 10/01/2024 09:36:17 2519369 Link
Replying To NorthLongfordforlife: "There are 2 clubs in the parish of Granard which would impact competitiveness" There are 2 clubs in Lanesborough as well - Rathcline and St Faithleachs. maximus02 (Longford) - Posts: 205 - 10/01/2024 10:05:13 2519372 Link
Replying To NorthLongfordforlife: "There are 2 clubs in the parish of Granard which would impact competitiveness" Ballymore are hardly a big pull on the best players around Granard. Fair enough excuse if Ballymore were a top end Intermediate team but they have always been Junior or bottom half Intermediate team. Granard is big enough to be more competitive than what they are. 1982 since they last won a senior and only 2 final appearances since then, Spinx (Longford) - Posts: 1288 - 10/01/2024 10:11:31 2519374 Link
Replying To maximus02: "There are 2 clubs in Lanesborough as well - Rathcline and St Faithleachs." St. Faithleachs is in Ballyleague, Co. Roscommon. Oddball (Roscommon) - Posts: 906 - 10/01/2024 11:03:14 2519383 Link
Replying To Oddball: "St. Faithleachs is in Ballyleague, Co. Roscommon." I sent the message before completing it! St. Faithleachs is in Ballyleague in Roscommon. But that would be what I was getting at with my first post. Would there be many lads from the Longford side of the Shannon going over to play on the Roscommon side and vice versa? Oddball (Roscommon) - Posts: 906 - 10/01/2024 11:58:42 2519391 Link
Replying To Oddball: "I sent the message before completing it! St. Faithleachs is in Ballyleague in Roscommon. But that would be what I was getting at with my first post. Would there be many lads from the Longford side of the Shannon going over to play on the Roscommon side and vice versa?" Coming from the Roscommon side club, only 1 player in the last 10-15 years has transferred from Faithleachs to play with Rathcline at senior level. He was also a Junior player for the club and never played a senior championship game. So there would be no transferring of players between these clubs. Rossfan93 (Roscommon) - Posts: 55 - 10/01/2024 13:32:11 2519412 Link
Replying To Oddball: "Lads, I'm just after looking back over the history of winners of the Longford Championship and I just wanted to get peoples take on the lack of championships for town/big village teams. In Roscommon we have Roscommon Gaels who have gone 19 years without a title, Castlereagh 14 years and Boyle 96 years!! In Longford you have Longford Slashers 10 years (not really a big drought!), Ballymahon 21 years (only 1 title), Mostrim 31 years (3 titles), Granard 41 years and Rathcline 47 years (only 1 title). For Mostrim and Granard to go 31 and 41 years without a title is astounding. Also, for clubs like Ballymahon and Rathcline only having won 1 title each is a strange one considering the size of Ballymahon and Lanesboro is a decnt size village/town. Looking in from the outside discounting Slashers, all these other teams are bordering other counties. Have players in the past thrown in their lot with clubs across the border or are there other reasons for the lack of success? I just would be interested in Longford peoples take on this." There's no one answer to this, but it's not down to players throwing in their lot with clubs across the border. The census data in 2022 showed 6 urban centres with population over 1000 in the county: Longford Town (10,957), Edgeworthstown (2199), Lanesboro (1733), Ballymahon (1714), Drumlish (1124) and Granard (1058). The next nearest after that was Kenagh with 753. Urban centres tend to have more alternative sporting options for kids (soccer, basketball, athletics, rugby) whereas rural areas can focus attention on Gaelic Games perhaps? That was true when I was a kid, not sure if it still applies now. For Killoe, a combo of an expanded new school and new principal focused on football, helped to build a great underage structure in 2000's and 2010's which paved the way for those senior titles. It also helps to be on the periphery of the county town when population is increasing (Clonguish benefit from that too). Abbeylara and Mullinalaghta (who between them have been in 7 of the last 10 County finals!) played all their underage together as Northern Gaels which allowed them to play at a very competitive level while winning championships - all of which helps prepare lads for a better transition to senior. Stonepark built an impressive new school just 5km from the centre of Longford town and next to the refurbished Grattans club grounds, and some of that big town population will opt for that school and align with Grattans instead of Slashers in Longford parish. In the past you would get a couple of good players from outside the county with Connolly Barracks being in the town (Slashers and Killoe both benefited from that in the past), but that closed in 2009. Similarly the Bord na Mona facilities around Lanesboro played a role too, but also now gone. For some clubs it is down to the luck of raw talent or having a few special people who go that extra mile to drive the club harder than others. So it is not any one thing, which is why you don't see any club dominate for long. Granard, Mostrim, Ballymahon, Rathcline and Fr. Manning Gaels should all be much stronger than they are, but numbers don't always translate to the GAA club nowadays. Perhaps the multi-million re-development of Monaduff will be the spark that reignites the Gaels? A rearrangement of SFC, IFC and JFC to make each more competitive rather than having so many clubs sat in Senior Championship, would help more clubs win things competitively and grow. LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 541 - 10/01/2024 13:52:19 2519417 Link
Replying To Spinx: "Ballymore are hardly a big pull on the best players around Granard. Fair enough excuse if Ballymore were a top end Intermediate team but they have always been Junior or bottom half Intermediate team. Granard is big enough to be more competitive than what they are. 1982 since they last won a senior and only 2 final appearances since then," Not a question of pull but the parish is split in 2. I think Ballymore have won Intermediate Championship and contested finals and played Senior football in last 20 years and have had players that would have improved Granard at all levels. Prior to the split Granard had won the 2 previous Championships and contested a number of finals but only won 2 since the split 50 odd years ago. So I do think its had an impact NorthLongfordforlife (Longford) - Posts: 8 - 11/01/2024 13:10:42 2519598 Link
Replying To NorthLongfordforlife: "Not a question of pull but the parish is split in 2. I think Ballymore have won Intermediate Championship and contested finals and played Senior football in last 20 years and have had players that would have improved Granard at all levels. Prior to the split Granard had won the 2 previous Championships and contested a number of finals but only won 2 since the split 50 odd years ago. So I do think its had an impact" Definitely a factor. Ballymore won 1 intermediate title (2004) and were intermediate finalists in 1987, 2003, 2010 & 2011. After promotion in 2004, played senior for five years and were relegated in 2009. I recall Granard in a couple of relegation finals in those years when Ballymore were senior. LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 541 - 11/01/2024 14:31:32 2519625 Link
Replying To NorthLongfordforlife: "Not a question of pull but the parish is split in 2. I think Ballymore have won Intermediate Championship and contested finals and played Senior football in last 20 years and have had players that would have improved Granard at all levels. Prior to the split Granard had won the 2 previous Championships and contested a number of finals but only won 2 since the split 50 odd years ago. So I do think its had an impact" Correction... relegated in 2008 not 2009. So four years at Senior. LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 541 - 11/01/2024 14:33:18 2519626 Link
Lads, don't be kidding yourselves. If you had Granard and Ballymore together in the 2000's they would not win a County senior title. The only player Ballymore had that would of made Granard any better was Bernard McElvaney. Ballymore played senior at a time when there was 15 or 16 teams playing senior. So in reality what played the Intermediate in those years would have been Junior teams and the bottom 4 or 6 clubs in Senior would have been Intermediate clubs!! Spinx (Longford) - Posts: 1288 - 11/01/2024 14:49:07 2519633 Link
Replying To Spinx: "Lads, don't be kidding yourselves. If you had Granard and Ballymore together in the 2000's they would not win a County senior title. The only player Ballymore had that would of made Granard any better was Bernard McElvaney. Ballymore played senior at a time when there was 15 or 16 teams playing senior. So in reality what played the Intermediate in those years would have been Junior teams and the bottom 4 or 6 clubs in Senior would have been Intermediate clubs!!" Not saying they would've either but undoubtedly would have being more competitive. 2 of the best intermediate teams in Longford in early 2000's were Granards Second team and Ballymore's first team. Prior to the split Granard had most county titles now they don't. I'd suggest there's a correlation there NorthLongfordforlife (Longford) - Posts: 8 - 11/01/2024 15:35:14 2519651 Link
Well done to the lads on a good win over Meath. We don't bate them often, so regardless whether it was their second team or not, we will take it. LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 541 - 13/01/2024 19:09:18 2520046 Link
Replying To LongfordgaaAbú: "Well done to the lads on a good win over Meath. We don't bate them often, so regardless whether it was their second team or not, we will take it." You can only play what's in front of you and we don't get to too many finals regardless so i just take it on its merits. I would like to think they have learned a bit more from last year and we take whatever experience we get from getting to and possibly winning the final into our league performances. Played well in the first 15 mins of the first half and the last 15 in the second half i thought, so it was good to see we were able to step it up to see out the game. LongfordSham (Longford) - Posts: 113 - 15/01/2024 09:06:27 2520223 Link
Best of luck to the lads tomorrow against Dublin. If you're winning you're improving, regardless of whether its Dublin's second or third side. Important to hit the League with confidence as high as possible! LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 541 - 19/01/2024 15:56:52 2520993 Link
Replying To LongfordSham: "You can only play what's in front of you and we don't get to too many finals regardless so i just take it on its merits. I would like to think they have learned a bit more from last year and we take whatever experience we get from getting to and possibly winning the final into our league performances. Played well in the first 15 mins of the first half and the last 15 in the second half i thought, so it was good to see we were able to step it up to see out the game." To be fair Longford have made a habit of reaching the O'Byrne cup final. Reached it last year and 2020 winning both perhaps 3 from 3 against a 3rd string Dublin tomorrow? Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3456 - 19/01/2024 16:48:53 2521010 Link
Just watching the game on tv. Cathal Mc Cabe was very good along with number 7. The killoe keeper has to be disappointed not to get a game, clearly a good keeper for his club and deserves his chance but that opportunity is gone now. Good win and hopefully they can build on it this year and get promotion. williesboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 385 - 20/01/2024 16:31:29 2521145 Link
Well done to Longford! realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8667 - 20/01/2024 17:10:36 2521155 Link
Replying To williesboy: "Just watching the game on tv. Cathal Mc Cabe was very good along with number 7. The killoe keeper has to be disappointed not to get a game, clearly a good keeper for his club and deserves his chance but that opportunity is gone now. Good win and hopefully they can build on it this year and get promotion." Odd comment. Longford's regular keeper played and played well. A final is hardly the time to experiment and you could see the experience throughout the game. Club bias maybe? Agree with comment re building on this though, getting out of Division 4 should be priority. Impressed with some of the footballers. Gallagher, Hagan, McCabe, Mathews, .....all played well. Quinn def settled things too at an important time when he was introduced. wackojacko (Longford) - Posts: 25 - 21/01/2024 09:45:42 2521234 Link
Replying To wackojacko: "Odd comment. Longford's regular keeper played and played well. A final is hardly the time to experiment and you could see the experience throughout the game. Club bias maybe? Agree with comment re building on this though, getting out of Division 4 should be priority. Impressed with some of the footballers. Gallagher, Hagan, McCabe, Mathews, .....all played well. Quinn def settled things too at an important time when he was introduced." It's a preseason competition and Longford went strong throughout like they did last year and look what happened then. We all know what paddy can do so it's a great opportunity to give other fringe players a string of games. Christie said it himself before and after the game yesterday about giving players a game. Hopefully it's a different outcome this year and they go straight back up which I think they will along with Laois with Leitrim missing out. williesboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 385 - 21/01/2024 11:16:08 2521251 Link