Longford’s minor footballers stand on the verge of a historic achievement as they head into the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football final tonight in Tullmore. They will face three-in-a-row chasing Dublin. Longford are appearing in their first Leinster Final since 2015, and should they be successful, it would be their first provincial title since 2010.
Enda McGahern’s charges have already squared off with Dublin in Round 2 of the group stages, with Longford running out 3-8 to 1-9 victors, however when speaking to us at Balls.ie, McGahern stated that this game would have little impact on their preparation heading into this final.
“I think it was Round Two, it was at home, and I don’t think it has a big significance on this game. Obviously, we can get belief from the fact that we beat Dublin, but it’ll be a whole different game. It’ll be in Tullamore, and Dublin will be kicking themselves that day. They made a lot of mistakes and they’ll be trying to rectify them. But we made a lot of mistakes as well. When we looked at our performance against Dublin, even though we beat them, there was a lot of things we weren’t happy with. So, like, we realise that Dublin are a formidable outfit. They’re going for three in a row. They’ve been dominant in Leinster in recent times. They’ve either been in a final or won it. So they’re in a familiar position, even though it’s a different group of players.”
Given Dublin’s dominance at senior level in the Leinster Football Championship, it has been something of a trend that people build hype around a minor team after they beat the Dubs, and McGahern was aware of how to handle any extra attention that his side would be exposed to after that victory.
“The players really enjoyed themselves and enjoyed the victory and the manner in which we did it. After a day or two of enjoying it, it was back training again the following Friday, and the lads were focused. It was only round two in the group stages so we had Laois to come and we had to get back down to preparation. So yeah, it was great for the county. You know, we haven’t had great success in a lot of things this year, so to get a win over Dublin was really good.”
Longford also overcame Offaly in the group stage before beating the Dubs, and then they rebounded from their defeat to Laois in Round 3 by beating Louth in a dramatic semi final. Louth had fired themselves 0-10 0-6 ahead in the 41st minute, but in an incredible display of character, Longford rattled off the last five points of the game, with Cian O’Donnell slotting over what proved to be the winning score.
“I mean, we were disappointed to let Louth go so far ahead to begin with. But then when you do go behind, first of all, we look at ourselves as a management team, say, is there any changes that we can make? What can we do? So we shook things up. We brought a few guys off the bench. We’ve got a good strong panel this year. So they came in and really helped get us over the line. The players showed great heart, determination, and grit to put us in a position where it came down to the last kick of the game and Cian O’Donnell nailed a really good free to win by a point. So, it was really satisfying, the players have that. They’ve shown it all year. I’ve been with them the last number of years and, you know one thing the group have is a belief in themselves and whether we win or lose, they’ll fight till the end and we’ll see where we are after that.”
'They're really focused and they're really ambitious'
Longford’s journey to this Leinster Final seems to have been with the support of the entire county, and McGahern spoke of the support that he and his squad have received from those around them. This support has even led to local clubs allowing the panel to use their facilities for training sessions, especially during bad weather, something which has assisted the panel on their journey greatly. 7
“I know that there’s been massive support, both from clubs and parents and families. You know, we’re asking a lot of these guys, we train quite a bit and we have been doing gym sessions or pitch sessions and we’ve been on the go from last November when we started doing trials and then took it into training sessions. So you know, first and foremost, the families and all the relationships are a great credit for making the guys available. They’ve got school and lots of stuff going on at the minute. So we’ve got great support from everybody, including the clubs.”
“We’re trying to facilitate club games and we’re asking clubs to give us pitches, football pitches when it was really bad weather and we couldn’t get anywhere to train and all that sort of thing so you know clubs are very obliged and helping us with facilities and so yeah there’s definitely a willingness to give us help and give us support because as I say it’s not often Longford gets to a Leinster final.”
If Longford are victorious on Monday evening, it will be their first Leinster minor title since 2010, and the culmination of what has been an amazing journey with McGahern and his management team, a journey which has been ongoing for a lot longer than one might think.
“I’ve been with them and a few of us on the coaching team have been with them since 2014. We tried to just get them to develop and create an environment where they want to play for Longford first of all, that they enjoy it, and that as coaches, we’re providing a facility or an environment where they can thrive and they enjoy it. So I guess when you do that, you know, they play it together with their school as well, and there’s guys from the same club playing on the panel. So yeah, we had a bit of success last year at Under 16 in terms of winning the Fr. Manning Cup, and that gave the lads good belief that they could go on and compete with other teams. So certainly the togetherness and they’re a really good group of lads. They’re really focused and they’re ambitious and when it comes down to the final stretch of a game sometimes that’s where it really counts.”
That longevity has been a huge asset for Longford on their journey so far, and if they are to win their first provincial crown in 2010, in their first final appearance since 2015, they must stop the three-in-a-row chasing Dublin in the process.
