Longford92 (Longford) - Posts: 14 - 01/02/2026 20:22:52    2654434

Longfordlad1985 (Longford) - Posts: 50 - 01/02/2026 20:51:06    2654445

williesboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 544 - 01/02/2026 21:39:27    2654465

Longfordlad1985 (Longford) - Posts: 50 - 02/02/2026 00:54:06    2654512

McGuinness dropped one ball he should have caught in the first half. London got a point from it. He does an awful lot of shouting at his players defending ('right foot/left foot') but he is pretty solid.

The most worrying aspect about the game is that London were much superior for most of that game. Lucky not to be beaten by 10 points.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4102 - 02/02/2026 14:17:33    2654592

Another decent win for the hurlers on Saturday. Cathal Mullane introduced at halftime made an impact. Should make the league final if they can beat Monaghan away next weekend.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4102 - 02/02/2026 14:20:10    2654593

Boxtyeater (Leitrim) - Posts: 759 - 02/02/2026 14:34:17    2654602

Longfordlad1985 (Longford) - Posts: 50 - 02/02/2026 17:28:55    2654634

Patrickoneill7281 (Longford) - Posts: 6 - 02/02/2026 20:14:59    2654659

John45 (Longford) - Posts: 13 - 02/02/2026 21:08:18    2654665

Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if we finish bottom of the pile at the end of the league. A fine indictment of where we are at the minute. Maybe we were spoiled with the players and teams we pulled together from 2000-2020 as at the end of the day we are the 2nd smallest county in the country. But most other 'Weaker' counties have greatly improved the last number of year, no reason we shouldn't be kicking on too.

Too much disparity in the grades in both underage and senior. We are all well aware of the messing between teams in promotion/relegation between the adult grades, but the underage grades are a mess. Multiple underage clubs joining up and still taking beatings, teams dropping down divisions to avoid beatings in a higher grade, but being far too strong for the grade they drop down to and theres more that could be noted.

Where do we realistically go from here in the short, medium and long term?

LongfordSham (Longford) - Posts: 141 - 03/02/2026 09:50:08    2654706

The main issue with what is going on, is the lack of foresight in developing underage players over the last 10/15 years, which systematically comes from the county board and the same faces in there for years.
The lack of development through Schools and underage systems is the reason we are not producing players of an intercounty stanard - look at the physical nature of Longford players compared to those in similar counties, we are miles and miles off it.
Lets not forget, Longford beat a Louth side in 2020, who just a couple of years later, went on to win the Leinster championship.
Michael Duignan in Offaly is another example of someone who has laid the foundations and reapt the rewards with plenty of underage success, filtering into their senior setup.
Instead in Longford, folks in the county board are more interested in saving the pennies with no structure or foresight in place to improve standards.
I would say there are plenty of cute business heads around the county who could do a job, but they wouldn't be let near the place as we've seen before - anyone with any common sense isn't welcome!

honda15 (Longford) - Posts: 95 - 03/02/2026 16:11:56    2654823

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 652 - 03/02/2026 17:09:23    2654834

Agree with a lot of what has been said. Some of the problem is demographics. The second smallest county in Ireland with the lowest number of clubs. If everyone else is maximising what they have, then it becomes a numbers game and that is a battle we won't win. Many would've seen Wicklow or Louth as counties of equal stature to us historically, but they are benefitting from an increased population and an increased GAA imprint in the county, particularly in large population centres like Bray/Drogheda. We can't compete with that, so we need to be better at minding what we have.
Clubs:
In truth, there is only a few clubs taking player development seriously. Some clubs have the excuse of numbers but some don't. Clubs like Colmcille are to be admired constantly producing quality players even if they dont have the numbers. Other clubs with bigger resources could learn from them. 3 of the 4 biggest population centres in the county are producing very little. Some clubs using the figleaf of hurling development to absolve themselves of producing footballers doesnt help either. This apathy at club level is enabled by a county board who allow teams at underage to play down rather than up. Thankfully, that is changing and there is signs of increased numbers in A grades. Whether that is a levelling up or a levelling down remains to be seen but a situation where there are 3 or 4 levels in a county with 17 or 18 underage set ups is ridiculous. Clubs need to be held to account. Any county where 1 club is providing 5/6/7 players to county underage teams is a bad look. This has been the case for 15 years with Northern Gaels, Killoe and latterly Clonguish carrying the can. At adult level, the nonsense about teams winning things and not going up to Senior or Div 1 needs to be stopped. Our championships need to be sorted once and for all. Thankfully, this is happening now but its 10 years too late.
County Board:
Start taking development seriously. Stop pandering to clubs at underage level and adult level who want the easy way out or the rules changed. It doesnt happen anywhere else. Development is not presenting cups and swanning around Pearse Park on the day of a NFL gane in a high vis jacket giving out about the team on the field. We are slowly turning that around but we sat on our hands for 10 years and spent it arguing about who should be in Div 2 or 3 rather than look at the big picture. If we don't have numbers for conpetitive games for everyone inside the county, develop relationships with other counties. We need help in that area. We need external support in the same way Carlow/Kildare hurling got a leg up from Kilkenny by playing in their leagues/championships.
Supporters:
Be patient with this team. There are green shoots. 3 of our better players last week were our 20 year olds. There are other good players coming through. Give them time. As the previous contributor said, the lads that have committed are not the problem. There are a lot of lads in their mid 20s out there who played well in the club championships but seem unwilling to commit to the county setup. They need to be encouraged into the squad. Fair play to Fox, Moffett, McCabe and Dessie who stayed around to help the new lads. They are to be commended, same with Paddy Collum last year.
This will turn but it will need the co board getting things right and every club in the county pulling their weight. There was a time when you could get away with poor structures and a few clubs producing the goods but no longer. Getting every thing right guarantees you nothing but if you don't get it sorted you are guaranteed to fail.

TheSouthwillrise (Roscommon) - Posts: 1 - 03/02/2026 22:53:41    2654883