Longford football manager Denis Connerton is thought to be considering his position following the county board's refusal to postpone a round of league fixtures.

The Longford Leader newspaper reports that the county's management team have issued a statement this afternoon, which claims that the decision to proceed with Round Five fixtures of the All County League will disrupt the squad's championship preparations.

Longford take on Offaly at O'Connor Park on May 15th in the first round of the Leinster championship and last night saw their management team hold a crisis meeting "to reconsider our situation in regard to continuing in our role."

The Midlanders' provincial opener had originally been scheduled for Glennon Brothers Pearse Park but was switched to Tullamore due to restricted capacity and refurbishment works, forcing the concession of home advantage for Longford.

At last night's meeting Connerton and his selectors outlined the difficulties in preparing their charges to compete in the Leinster championship via a statement to the county board.

The statement read: "Our preparation has been made seriously difficult due to the fixing of League Games involving County players on the following dates: March 16th ,17th ,19th and 20th, April 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 29th and May 1st.

"After a productive training camp abroad funded by the players we met with the Fixtures Committee (CCC) to voice our concerns regarding players' welfare and fatigue and pleaded that Round 5 of the Club Leagues in Longford be postponed to aid our preparation for the first round match in Leinster.

"We stressed that we had already lost home venue due to Glennon Brothers Pearse Park being unable to accommodate the expected crowd for this match even though the stadium was able to facilitate a Division 1 fixture involving our neighbours Roscommon with a very large attendance.

"We further stated that our record in the Leinster Championship has been poor and as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our National League victory surely everything that is possible within our own county to enhance our young players' chances of progressing should be done."

Longford secretary Peter O'Reilly confirmed to the Leader that he had received the statement and that other members of the board's management committee had yet to read it.

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