The (new) boys of summer

This has been a remarkable championship campaign for the minors of Longford. Their progress to the Leinster title and through the All-Ireland series has captivated the entire county. Mark Gallagher reports.

THEY ARE not used to these days in Longford. Sundays are for the likes of Kerry, Galway and yes, Dublin and Armagh. All Ireland semi-finals are just a television event, perking nothing more than a passing interest. However, there have been exceptions. A few years back, the north of the county was enraptured as neighbours Cavan took on the might of Kerry.

That’s how most All-Ireland semi-final days are recalled in these parts. Occasionally, the county has been gripped by the presence of a neighbour, be it Cavan, Leitrim or Roscommon.

Sunday is Longford’s turn in the lime light. While a nation prepares itself for the collision of orange and blue, a team in blue and gold offer an intriguing curtain raiser. Not since 1968 has the county entered Croke Park en masse on All-Ireland semi-final day. Thirty four years is a long time to wait.

That afternoon, a senior team failed to capitalise on the county’s one and only Leinster title as they were brushed aside by Kerry. The gap is telling. Longford are one of the forgotten counties in the GAA. If you are lucky, you catch them kicking ball in the early days of May, perhaps even into the first week of June with the advent of the back door system. And then nothing.

By August, the pundits and wags gushing about the talents of Paul Barden and Padraic Davis will have confined those early season impressions to the depths of their minds.

So Sunday’s minor semi-final is a big deal in Longford. County chairman Martin Skelley said in the middle of last week that he already had 7,000 applications for tickets. “The ticket hunt is on here in Longford, everyone wants to go to Croke Park,” he says proudly.

Football is definitely hot this summer. Pearse Park is seeing unprecedented activity for the tail end of August. The tremor of excitement that the minors sent pulsating through the county when they captured their first title in July, with a three point victory over Meath, has culminated in emigrants returning home for a special weekend.

That midsummer’s day, the short journey to the midlands took forever. Blazing bonfires lit the road home as people thronged the streets of every town and village to welcome the team. By the time they arrived at the Longford Arms for proper celebrations, they had already been at two civic receptions in Ballymahon and Edgesworthtown. The buzz grew with each passing week. They met Leitrim at the start of August in the All-Ireland quarter final, disguised as a local derby. Over 7,000 Longford supporters travelled to Roscommon to see the Leinster champions cement another big day in Croker.

The summer camps, dotted around the county, have attracted record numbers this year. “We have broken the 1,000 barrier,” Skelley states, no mean achievement in a county where recent census figures recorded a population of just over 31,000. And for once, it is not the television stars from Meath and Dublin that the youngsters at camp are looking up to, but the likes of Enda Williams and Joe O’Brien from the minor team.

Those die-hards, who travelled to Arklow in the early days of this summer to see Longford squeeze past a talented Wicklow side by four points, never believed they would be watching the start of a journey on the All-Ireland trail. However, that is what it has become.

“That win over Wicklow, that brought us on an awful lot, it was a great boost to this team,” says Paddy Dorris, the county minor secretary who, after 28 years, is in the position for the final year (ironically, when he became minor secretary in 1974, it was the last year Longford reached a Leinster minor final, losing to Wicklow).

“Had Wicklow beaten us that day, they might have came as far as we have. But that win and the round robin system, where we played four of the smaller counties, really helped us develop and build this team. And with each success comes more confidence.”

How have a county like Longford emerged from the shadows? The answer lies in the ethic that keeps the smallest of clubs ticking over around the island, hard work and dedication. Skelley became underage developmental officer in 1994, dark, harrowing days to be involved with Longford football.

“There was an understanding something had to be done at underage level,” Skelley says. “We compete in the Fr Manning Cup U16 competition with our five neighbours (Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath) and were getting the wooden spoon every year. We needed to focus on our young talent.”

Within a year, any youngster who showed a glimpse of talent in Longford was brought to a skills session every Saturday morning, firstly in the Greyhound Stadium, later in Pearse Park. As Skelley puts it, the county became coaching conscious.

“We started these elite squads and we worked harder at them than any county in the country,” Skelley says. “I am saying that because we had to. With our small population base, if we lost four players to soccer or rugby, we couldn’t replace them. Counties like Meath and Dublin can. And if you are from Meath, you have your Trevor Giles to look up to and pulling on the jersey is a lifetime ambition. There is no such tradition in Longford.”

By hook or by crook, they found a talented squad of players and managed to divert their attention from the more glamorous claims of other sports. Within a couple of years, Longford were competing at a serious level in underage. In 1998, they lost the U15 Leinster blitz on points difference. A year later, the second developmental squad won that competition.

“This current minor side is the product of those two developmental squads,” Skelley says. Longford had, at last, won something at underage. And the success wasn’t about to stop. After years of being played off the park by their neighbours, a Longford side finally managed to capture the Fr Manning Cup, a competition for each county that is inside the Ardagh/ Clonmacnoise diocese.

“The bones of this minor team were on that side that won the Fr Manning Cup,” Paddy Dorris says. “If they didn’t win that competition, they mightn’t have won the minor title. It is only a small tournament among six of the poor relations, but if you look at the success that has sprung from it, a lot of the current Sligo side were part of a Manning Cup winning team a few years ago; Westmeath minors and U21s are the same, the Cavan team of 97, each of them sampled success in Manning Cup.”

The effect on the Longford footballers was evident for anyone working with them. It could even be seen at schools level. Gary Brady is the present manager of Longford U16s, but also coached Mone community college to an All-Ireland B Schools title this year. He feels the Manning Cup success helped his cause.

“You can see it in the lads coming to the school, their skills have definitely been more developed and those who were involved in the Manning Cup success, they were really confident with what they could do when they were on the ball, they had this unshakeable belief, almost a cockiness, in their own ability,” reflects Brady, who will see four of his pupils, Declan Farrell, Declan Reilly, Noel Farrell and Peter Masterson, run onto Croke Park on Sunday.

When people involved in Longford GAA talk about the success, everyone singles out the role manager Jimmy Gacquin has played. Last year, he entered the minor championship under difficult circumstances, having to admonish two of Longford’s more talented players for missing training. A first round exit to Wexford had people thinking that all this talk of underage success was just one more false dawn.

Gacquin, who also over looks the team at St Mels College, carried on regardless. And this year, he has moulded a team without any outstanding stars with a collective will to win for Longford.

“It doesn’t matter how talented your team is, you need a good manager over them. You have to have the combination of the two to be successful. That is what Jimmy has brought to this minor team,” said TJ Ward, current underage developmental officer.

Gacquin thinks the success is down to a combination of factors: “I always said if Longford minors could get out of the first round, they would have a great chance. This team has got used to winning now and they have played in Croke Park before, so Sunday won’t daunt them.

“What this team have is an inner self-belief,” Gacquin continues. “When we went behind to Meath, we didn’t panic and came back into the game. That comes from winning, not just at underage level, but at schools level. There is great work being done at all the schools in Longford and it has showed this year.”

The success is already having a knock-on effect. Gary Brady sat with his U16s for the Leinster final against Meath: “Sitting with the lads, when the minors are doing so well, it gives them something to look up to, something tangible to aspire to. I can say to them that they can they can be there in two years time if they work hard.”

Longford, a county on the periphery of the GAA, is centre stage this weekend with their minors and Derry minors in the traditional curtain raiser. After speculation in recent years over amalgamating counties, primarily involving those counties in the midlands diamond, Longford are at the centre of attention: “This goes along with our O’Byrne Cup success in 2000 and the ladies winning the junior All-Ireland title in 1997,” says Skelley.

“At national level, they don’t make much of a dent, but at local level, it means the world. We haven’t been at the top table for a long time. We might only be getting the crumbs, but at least we are there. And I know we are going up against Dublin and Armagh for tickets, possibly the two best supported counties, but the GAA needs to look after their Longfords too.

“If they are serious about keeping the association alive in places like Longford, they need to look after the minnows and show them some respect the odd time they do get onto the bigger stage. You mightn’t hear much about us, but the GAA is very strong here.”

If the Longford minor team have their way this weekend, you might be hearing a lot more from this county. Success for the first time in 34 years has brought them teeming from places like London, New York and Dubai.

Longford won’t have the biggest crowd in Croke Park this weekend, but nobody will enjoy it more.