Longing for a return to the glory days

IN Pearse Park on Sunday, among the large crowd braving the elements, there will be the old-timers evoking 1968, the year Longford footballers were feasting at the top table.

The county followed up their solitary Leinster title success with an All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry. Like many long-suffering Longford supporters, Denis Connerton remembers that day in Croke Park well.

Ultimately, tradition had the final say that afternoon but it was the crowning moment for the finest bunch of footballers to emerge from the midlands county.