Longford wary of wounded Mayo, says Barden
The positive vibes emanating from their camp during the league were dispelled by the heavy beating that Cork inflicted upon them in the Croke Park decider in April and then their Connacht championship aspirations were ripped apart by Sligo at the first hurdle in Markievicz Park earlier this month. Now they travel to Longford seemingly in a state of flux but the hosts are not convinced they are on the cusp of causing a major shock.
“They’re still a quality team to be facing,” insists Longford captain Paul Barden.
“They played in Division 1 of the league this year and beat a lot of top sides. Mayo are a good team and they didn’t turn into a bad team overnight, because they lost to Sligo. All the lads in our side know that we’re going to be up against it today.”
The midlanders are not devoid of hope though. They will be playing on home soil which Barden believes is a requisite for teams of their stature and have experiences of famous Pearse Park qualifier days to draw on. It’s only four years since Longford caused a sensation when toppling Derry in the third round of the qualifiers.
“All we wanted to do was get a home draw; in Pearse Park we are capable of performing against anyone. We just didn’t want any tough trip up north.
“We have put up good performances in the qualifiers in the past. I suppose the big thing when we beat Derry was that we had momentum behind us. We’d a few handy games to lead into that, picked up a few victories and were ready for Derry. In a perfect world, we would have liked a few of those this year.”
Longford have fetched up in the qualifiers as a result of a Leinster first round exit against Louth back in May.
The match was a grave disappointment as Longford failed to build on a positive opening to the game and Louth’s subsequent stunning success over Kildare, exacerbated the feelings of regret.
Barden agrees. “It would make you a bit sick after their surprise win over Kildare. It was a tight game and I felt we had our chances to win. But we just didn’t get motoring in the second-half and they brought more drive to the game.
“Things have picked up a bit since. We’ve Brian Kavanagh and Bernard McIlvanney back from injury which is crucial.
“We’re down four lads from last year because of work and travelling, but Brian and Bernard are big players to have back. Brian is a huge player for us, as we can’t really afford to lose anyone in Longford, especially a scoring forward like him.
“We’re probably in a better position now than we were before the Louth game. Glenn Ryan has been very good in picking us up. He’s a very passionate football man and if the players had his passion, we’d go a long way. We’ve had our disappointments, like in the league this year losing to Carlow in the first game set back our promotion hopes and then we had a goal disallowed against Limerick. Those type of things are disappointing.
“But there’s a good buzz now ahead of the Mayo game and we’re confident of performing.”
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