Longford live the dream as Dubs come to town

ONE of Luke Dempsey’s abiding memories of last summer’s Leinster football championship game against Dublin in Croke Park is of coming home in a half-empty bus, followed by carloads of Longford supporters, downcast after a 19-point hammering, their hopes of a breakthrough win dashed once more.

Without being gloomy about their sellout meeting in Pearse Park on Sunday, Dempsey appreciates either way, players and followers will be spared a long journey home this time.

Longford people, eagerly looking forward to their first home Championship game against the mighty Dubs, live in the real world. They know their team’s limitations and recognise the inequality of resources at Dublin’s disposal. But, like all minnow counties, they live in hope.

Dempsey says it’s a misconception the Longford team simply “lay down” in Croke Park last year, that they had no spirit.

They lost key players that day — Liam Keenan and Trevor Smullen — while Paul Barden was “rusty” after coming back from a long injury.

“It was the combination of losing players like these in such a small county, and Dublin putting in a fantastic aggressive performance.

They were to follow that on the end of the Leinster campaign and their narrow loss to Tyrone, showing they improved greatly under Paul Caffrey,” he said.

Longford’s league campaign promised more, and it went well until they drew with Leitrim and lost to Roscommon, having a player sent off in each game. These were three crucial points to lose but worse followed with the “fiasco” over the on/off Donegal game, eventually played and lost on a midweek evening.

They regrouped, with Trevor Smullen back into the panel, and managed to avoid injuries.

Dempsey and his assistant, Declan Rowley, now have everybody they wanted available for selection; the team they have selected includes just nine of the side which started against Dublin last year — featuring four Under-21 players and eight more among the substitutes.

In real terms, Dempsey agrees Longford can’t hope to compete on an equal basis with teams like Dublin. They don’t have the resources, not just in a playing sense but in facilities.

“It’s very hard to find (suitable) leisure centres,” he says.

“We have one in Longford town, but small towns like Ballymahon, Lanesboro and Edgeworthstown don’t have them.

“There’s only 32/33,000 people in the county, with only 12 senior clubs. There’s a huge gulf between the strong counties and the others. And, with a lot of the players Dublin-based, it’s a huge logistical effort to get the county team training together.”

Dempsey feels the Leinster Council should be playing more early rounds of the Championship at provincial venues, describing the atmosphere at a half-empty Croke Park last weekend as surreal. But he’s looking forward to taking on the Dubs: “It’s why every county loves the Championship and why it will stay a very high priority — for the reason you can cause a shock.

“It’s the chance of it happening which gives everybody hope. And that is what we are living for on Sunday.”