Irish: An Longfort Nickname(s): Midlanders Ground(s): Pearse Park, Longford | Province: Leinster County colours: Royal blue, Gold Dominant sport: Gaelic football | |
The Longford County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Luúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae an Longfort) or Longford GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Longford. The county board is also responsible for the Longford inter-county teams.
Contents
- History
- Crest and colours
- Gaelic football
- Honours
- Current football squad
- Hurling
- Team of the Millennium
- Camogie
- References
Longford won their first and only National Football League title in 1966 with a 1-point victory over Galway in the Home Final and an aggregate win over New York in the Final. They won their only Leinster Senior Football Championship title in 1968 with a 3-9 to 1-4 win over Laois.
History
Despite the small population of the county, Longford emerged to win the 1966 National Football League and 1968 Leinster Senior Football Championship, and have since contributed some outstanding personalities to GAA history.
Crest and colours
Green and white hooped jerseys were used by Longford up to 1918 when a royal blue jersey with a gold sash was adopted. Around 1930 the sash disappeared but the gold trim was retained.
Gaelic football
Jackie Devine set up two goals for Longford in the last six minutes of the 1968 Leinster Senior Football Championship final to beat Laois by 3-9 to 1-4, where Sean Donnelly and Jim Hannify were the scorers. It was their only Leinster title, and it came two years after a great victory over Galway by nine points to eight in the National League final. They also won the O'Byrne Cup in 1965, and again in 2000.
When they lost a replayed Leinster semi-final in 1970 it was their fourth semi-final in six years. Victories over Westmeath and Wicklow in 1988 left the county on the verge of a Leinster final after 20 years. The team played well against Dublin and led by three points at half-time. Team manager and sports psychologist Brendan Hackett has cited what happened next as an example of lack of self-belief in extremis: Dublin drew level with 20 minutes remaining and won by 18 points.
Since first getting the taste in 1928, Longford like to beat Meath in the Championship, and shocked them in 1982. They forced Offaly to a replay in 1984, but the promise of the Under-21 teams that reached successive Leinster finals in 1981 and 1982 failed to materialise. In 2002 the county's minor team won the Leinster Minor Football Championship, the following year the county Vocational Schools team won the All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship at A and B level, the only county to do so.
In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Damien Sheridan won the All-Ireland Kick Fada Championship.
The footballers had mixed fortunes in 2014. The Leinster Championship campaign finally yielded a win over Offaly for new manager Jack Sheedy on a scoreline of 0-19 to 0-16, but Wexford proved to be our annual banana skin in the Quarter Final, losing by 1-13 to 1-15 in the sunshine of Pearse Park. The qualifiers took us to Derry and a mouth-watering tie which turned into an epic encounter with Longford winning by 2 points in a high scoring game. Unfortunately it was back down to earth with a bang in the next round when Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the 2014 championship campaign.
Honours
Current football squad
Squad as per Longford vs Dublin, 2015 Leinster Senior Football Championship, Quarter Final, 31 May 2015
Hurling
Like most of its neighbours, Longford have struggled to compete with the bigger counties as they only have three Hurling teams in the county, Slashers, Wolfe Tones and Clonguish. The county team won the National League Division 3 title in 2002, In 2005 & 2006 they won the Leinster Shield. They won the Lory Meagher Cup, for the first time, in Croke Park on 3 July 2010 and won on a scoreline 1 – 20 to Donegal 1 – 12.
Liam Griffin has said the GAA should be ashamed of itself over its failure in the promotion of hurling.
Australia is 24 hours away, yet we can create a new game with the Aussie Rules lads. Longford and Leitrim are right here, yet we largely ignore them and many others too when it comes to promoting hurling. The new D. J. Carey could be living in Longford, Leitrim or Donegal, but we'll never know. We have failed him. [...] If someone can market coloured gripe water, call it Coca Cola and clean up worldwide, we should be able to sell hurling in Longford.
Honours
Honours
Team of the Millennium
The start of the new millennium also saw the selection of Longford’s ‘Team of the Millennium’ as follows:
2001 saw Longford surrender the O’Byrne cup in the opening round. The league saw Longford win 4 from the first 5, but defeats to Monaghan and Kildare in the final round meant there was no promotion. The championship started with a terrific win over Louth in Navan to set up a quarter final against the Dubs. They ultimately won well in the Croke Park clash. 2001 also saw the introduction of the back door, or qualifiers. Longford’s first second chance outing was away to Wicklow, where the garden county men won 1-14 to 0-11.
Camogie
Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, “Our Game, Our Passion,” new camogie clubs are to be established in Longford and a county board formed by 2015.