Longford county football team

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.

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.

Denis Connerton managed the team between 2004 and 2007.[1]

Glenn Ryan manager from 2009.

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 0-15,[2] but Wexford defeated them in the Quarter Final, losing by 1-13 to 1-15 in the sunshine of Pearse Park.[3] The qualifiers took them to Derry where Longford won by two points in a high scoring game.[4][5] However, in the next round, Tipperary inflicted a 17-point defeat on Longford to end the 2014 championship campaign.[6]

Denis Connerton replaced Sheedy as manager in 2015.[7][8]

Former player Padraic Davis took over as manager in 2018. Davis was given a two-year extension in 2020 until the end of 2022.[9][10]

See History at Longford GAA.

Team as per Longford vs Dublin in the Leinster SFC quarter-final, 31 May 2015

Extended on 1 December 2020 until end of 2022[10]

• Manager: Padraic Davis
• Management team: Paul Barden, Donal Ledwith, former Galway player John Donnellan
• Nutritionist: Kate McDaid
• Strength and conditioning coach: Alan Malone

Longford's Team of the Millenium was unique as it contained the only father and son combination in the country; Drumlish's Jim Hannify Snr and Jnr. The start of the new millennium also saw the selection of Longford's Team of the Millennium as follows:

All Irelands

• All-Ireland Junior Football Championship (1)
  • 1937
• All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship (1)
  • 2003, 2013

Provincials

• Leinster Senior Football Championship 1
  • 1968
• Leinster Minor Football Championship 4
  • 1929, 1938, 2002, 2010
• O'Byrne Cup 3
  • 1965, 2000, 2020[11]

Leagues

• National Football League
• Division 1 (1)
  • 1966
• Division 2 (2)
  • 1937, 1972
• Division 3 (1)
  • 2012
• Division 4 (1)
  • 2011