Longford set to make history as Dublin clash a sell-out

LONGFORD County Board is looking forward to seeing history made in Pearse Park when they host holders Dublin in a Leinster senior football championship game for the first time on Sunday.

Predictably, the game is a sell-out, with all of their 5,000 tickets long since snapped up in Longford and a similar situation prevailing with Dublin’s allocation of 9,500. With the balance going to the Leinster Council, the ground will be filled to its capacity of close to 15,500.

“This is what the ‘real’ GAA is all about — hosting a major championship game,” comments County Board Chairman Martin Scally. “Our neighbours Roscommon have it all the time, but it will be a first for Longford. It is history in the making,” he said.

He views it as both a boon for the local community and a boost to their own team, who are in a mission of redemption after failing badly to the Dubs in Croke Park last year.

“We hear a lot about what the big games mean to the business community in places like Thurles and Clones, but it passes us by. The business people in Longford have been supportive of us through thick and thin — and there have been plenty of ‘thin’ times.”

Over the past three years the board has spent €3 million on upgrading the ground, with recent improvements carried out to an embankment (which added an extra thousand to the capacity) and the terrace.

While pointing out that the planning for the game had been a major undertaking — and a ‘major headache’ — Mr Scally said that overall the awarding of the game to Pearse Park had generated considerable excitement in the county.

“In the past, Dublin/Longford games would have been played in Mullingar, Navan, Portlaoise, Tullamore — and Croke Park,” he added.

“Our players are very excited about the opportunity of playing at home. They just want to erase the bad memory of their game against Dublin in Croke Park last year. After 15 minutes we know our fate. It was horrible stuff after that. It was punishment!”

In general, he feels strongly that the Leinster Council should play more first-round games at provincial venues, saying that the attendance of 32,000 for the two games in Croke Park on Sunday supported this argument.