Longford do it again.
Every so often they do this.
They make you sit up and take notice of what was once viewed as an inconsequential qualifier fixture. They make stronger, more successful teams question everything about themselves. They make you wonder why people like Mickey Quinn say it’s rare for the county to win back-to-back championship games.
But they do it now and again and only their victims tell the tale.
Derry people the island over nodding their heads arrogantly at that Longford scoreline in Monaghan
"Told you they were good"#GAA
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) July 9, 2016
That victim list is growing though. Ulster champions Monaghan were added on Saturday to the wreckage of surprised eliminations lying in the wake of the O’Farrell County. Like Mayo before them, like Derry more than once, and like Down, the Farney men’s summer was ended prematurely at the hands of the midlands outfit.
It came as more of a shock this season though considering where Denis Connerton’s men began their championship campaign. An eight-point drubbing at the hands of Offaly back in May didn’t exactly suggest that Longford would be travelling to Clones and putting them out on their ears later in the year.
But that’s how it transpired and Mickey Quinn, who claimed the goal at the weekend, revealed that they were nowhere near fit for championship back in the first round of the Leinster.
“You start questioning everything – management, players, everyone’s kinda asking who’s at fault. Looking back now, we weren’t half-prepared for that first round of the championship,” the centre back told SportsJOE’s GAA Hour Football Show.
“Players didn’t know their roles enough. We hadn’t played enough games from the league to the first round of the championship. We went back and we played three or four rounds of club games.
“We had a great training camp in Portugal, did a load of work and then we came from that – I think it was a late Sunday night – and then we had a club game on the Tuesday. We had another club game on the Friday and then I think another one on the following Wednesday.
“I think two weeks went by after that training camp where we were just solely back with the club. So that kind of went to waste, instead of trying to build on that. It had been touched on by management before, at the time.”
The transformation has been night and day. Actually, it’s been exactly like Longford’s usual Jekyll and Hyde act. The reasons this time were much more explainable.
The county players got time with the county team.
“We’re after playing five inter-county challenge games since the Offaly game and we’re after playing two championship games. There’s seven games we’ve got under our belts. We found out what setups are working for us, players in their best positions mainly and what players to play. There are guys getting a run of form as well,” Quinn said.
“It’s very difficult for club players to be sitting waiting, and idle. There’s a lot more players in that position. But championship was fixed for this weekend in Longford – ‘go straight back in with your club now and play this weekend in the club championship’.
“We’re probably going possibly eight or nine weeks of county games, three rounds of club games thrown in there as well and the Offaly game. It’s very hard to find a solution but it just shows you what goes on behind teams with each county. It’s crazy really. It’s very hard to describe.
“We played a league final on the 21st of December last year. It still goes on until that time of year. As much as there’s a mad rush to get these things run off, it still drags on.
“It’s a fixture headache, I wouldn’t like to try and organise it or to try and keep people happy but there definitely has to be a better way to try and build on it and, at the same time, support the county team to get the best out of what they can.”
Listen to Mickey Quinn’s brilliant full interview on the GAA Hour Football Show with Barry Cahill and Colm Parkinson.
https://soundcloud.com/user-787320910/football-show-2-mp3
