Longford quietly confident of reaching final

THE Longford team for Sunday’s All-Ireland MFC semi-final against Derry shows one change from the team which defeated Meath in the recent Leinster final.

Joe O’Brien comes in at left half forward for Cian Cooney. This will be the first time these particular counties will have met at this stage of the minor championship.

It’s been 64 years since Longford last won the Leinster title. Team boss Jimmy Gacquin who is also senior team coach at St. Mels College, said there is phenomenal interest in the game within the county and is expecting huge support.

“We’ve had some very good teams over the years but always seem to get beat by a point or two. This year the results have been going our way for a change and the three point win over Meath in the provincial final was greeted enthusiastically by everybody.

“Wouldn’t it make a great final if we get there. However we cannot even think about that. Derry know what it’s like to be involved at this level, but we are quietly confident we can win it”.

Derry recall Conleth Moran for his first outing on months. Moran whose father Mickey is the Donegal senior manager, has been struggling with a knee injury but has been given the nod over Ruairí Murray.

There are two positional switches on the team with Mark Lynch switching back to centre back from left half forward with Ciarán McGoldrick taking over the right half back position from Murray.

The northern side last reached this stage of the championship two years ago when Cork beat them before going on to take the title at Mayo’s expense.

Their coach Chris Browne is expecting a difficult hour from Longford. “It may be their first appearance for a long number of years, but you don’t get this far unless you have a good team.

“We’ll be taking no chances with them. You never know with young players. There’ll be a huge crowd in Croke Park on Sunday and you just don’t know how minors will react.”

DERRY (MF v Longford): Eoin McNicholl; Ml McGoldrick, Gerard O’Kane, Joe Keenan; Ciaran McCallion, Mark Lynch, Paul O’Hea; Patsy Bradley, Ruairí Convery; Barry McGoldrick, Cathal O’Kane, Conleth Moran; James Bateson, Paul Young, Ciaran Mullan.

LONGFORD (MF v Derry): Ger Evans; Noel Farrell, Shane Smith, Kieran McKeown; Emmet Finn, Shane Mulligan, Declan Reilly; Fergal Kelly, Tony Murphy; Ml Kelly, Enda Williams, Joe O’Brien; Peter Masterson, Declan Farrell, M. Hussey.