Making 23 substitutions throughout an entertaining and at times tense O'Byrne Cup semi-final encounter, the Dessie Farrell era ultimately got off to a losing start for Dublin.

Longford booked their place in the O’Byrne Cup semi-final for the fourth year in a row with six points to spare over Carlow in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

Perhaps history will repeat itself and a Jack O'Connor-led team will bounce back from a loss to Longford with a strong season but, for now, it's frustration for the new Kildare manager.

Longford 2-15 Carlow 1-8: Three weeks on from their refusal to bow to pragmatism and shut up shop against Dublin, Longford’s commitment to attractive football finally paid off on Saturday.

Longford 0-16 Offaly 0-13: In a streaky game where both sides thrived on confidence, ultimately Offaly’s lack of self-belief cost them when they saw the finishing line.

Longford’s survival instincts served them well as they came from seven points adrift to oust Offaly in a keenly contested Leinster SFC clash at O’Connor Park in Tullamore.

Offaly had way too much firepower for Longford and it was their more clinical finishing of better chances created that earned them the new Division 4 silverware.

Longford 1-12 Waterford 1-10

Tipperary 2-17 Longford 0-6

Jack Sheedy’s Longford were bounced out of the All-Ireland senior football championship by Tipperary this afternoon.

Derry 2-14 Longford 2-16

An embarrassing oversight has prevented Waterford hurler Brian O’Sullivan from appealing a two-match ban. The forward picked up the suspension retrospectively following Waterford’s Munster SHC quarter-final defeat by Cork last Sunday week.

Wexford 1-15 Longford 1-13

Limerick 2-11 Longford 0-11

Kildare 3-20 Longford 0-6

Longford 2-14 Limerick 0-09

Louth 1-14 Longford 1-08

Longford 3-7 Galway 3-11

Armagh 3-08 Longford 2-09

Armagh 3-8 Longford 1-9

Conor Counihan will be without his three U21 players for Sunday’s Division One trip to Newry.

Longford 1-8 Westmeath 2-7

Wexford 2-08 Longford 1-10

Meath 1-9 Longford 1-7

Longford 1-10 Laois 0-12

JACK BRADY and sub Donal Smith struck second-half goals as DCU, without several key players, advanced to the O’Byrne Cup semi-final at Ballymahon yesterday.

LONGFORD produced a strong final quarter to claim victory over Athlone IT in this O’Byrne Cup tie at Ballymahon.

Longford 0-15 Tyrone 1-17

MICHEAL MEEHAN returns to the Galway starting lineup for tomorrow’s All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Meath in one of five changes made by manager Tomás Ó Flatharta following the Connacht semi-final defeat to Mayo.

Cavan 0-11 Longford 2-16

Laois 0-10 Longford 0-9

THEIR qualifier success over Mayo in Pearse Park last July was one of the most uplifting stories of the summer but it’s the subsequent defeat to Down which Longford attacker Paul Barden uses for motivation in 2011.

Longford 2-11 Roscommon 1-8

O’MOORE PARK was a scene of delight as much as it was a vista of dejection last night as Wexford celebrated their first Leinster U21 FC title at the fifth time of asking.

CLARE had two points to spare over Longford at Cusack Park, Ennis yesterday.

A STRONG finish to both halves enabled Longford to bridge a five-year gap when edging out Westmeath — who finished with 14 men — in last night’s Leinster Under-21 FC semi-final clash at Páirc Tailteann.

AFTER ousting reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin, Meath were dumped out of the Leinster U21 FC quarter-final at Navan last night.

Fermanagh 0-05 Longford 1-08

THE scoreline points to an emphatic win for UCC, but it was a tough struggle before they progressed past Dublin IT in yesterday’s Ulster Bank Sigerson Cup first round clash at the Mardyke.