Longford Football (& Hurling) Thread

[LaurelEye]

J J was in decent enough shape ! Surprised to see Rian come in .

That was a surprise here as well up until the other day. He only had a jersey and a number in the quarter-final to get him past the Guardian of The Tunnel.

23 clubs in your corner the next day plus the neighbouring Cavan ones

Mullahoran would be the biggest contingent and I think it's unlikely that they'll have a game on October 5th; they were meant to be playing this evening but the Cavan championship has run into objections over the lights going out in their last match and not enough time being played to make up. Ulster Council is being called in this week. Gowna are out of the championship, Lacken aren't; not sure about Arva or Ballymachugh.

And speaking of objections... 

[The Insider]

Aye seems that the legal eagles were on standby with talks of an injunction to be launched by the defeated party to prevent the game going ahead . They also failed to provide team for programme . May be more hearings as the ref who sent off the player in quarter final was the linesman in semi final and seemed to be subject to less than friendly advice in the closing minutes after a Clonguish player went down after receiving a little dig , nothing as serious though  as that inflicted on the St Columba's full back who was struck off the ball and subsequently had to go off .   

[LaurelEye]

Aye seems that the legal eagles were on standby with talks of an injunction to be launched by the defeated party to prevent the game going ahead . They also failed to provide team for programme . May be more hearings as the ref who sent off the player in quarter final was the linesman in semi final and seemed to be subject to less than friendly advice in the closing minutes after a Clonguish player went down after receiving a little dig , nothing as serious though  as that inflicted on the St Columba's full back who was struck off the ball and subsequently had to go off .

I can only hope that the letter of the law will be strictly adhered to on all these matters. Clonguish would not be satisfied with anything less.

The maxim "do unto others what they would do to you given half a chance" should apply.

[Billys Boots]

J J was in decent enough shape ! Surprised to see Rian come in . 23 clubs in your corner the next day plus the neighbouring Cavan ones

That's for sure alright!

[LaurelEye]

I believe there was a coin-toss today for 1st place in the minor championship group.

Northern Gaels (represented by Mullinalaghta) won the toss. 2-0.

Clonguish reach the semi-finals without playing, or winning, a match.

[Spinx]

What are ye lot dribbling about? Clonguish haven't and are not lodging an objection!! Whats worse than a bad loser is a bad winner and ye Mullinalaghta boys are certainly that. Ye were sour after we beat ye well up in the Laurels earlier this year. Killoe will win the final handy enough, they surely wouldn't of been quaking in their boots at the thoughts of meeting either Mullinalaghta or Clonguish in the final.

[LaurelEye]

What are ye lot dribbling about? Clonguish haven't and are not lodging an objection!! Whats worse than a bad loser is a bad winner and ye Mullinalaghta boys are certainly that. Ye were sour after we beat ye well up in the Laurels earlier this year. Killoe will win the final handy enough, they surely wouldn't of been quaking in their boots at the thoughts of meeting either Mullinalaghta or Clonguish in the final.

First of all, I'm the only Mullinalaghta poster here. The Insider is not from Mullinalaghta. Neither is Billy. Neither is Shamrock.

Secondly, Clonguish representatives were in at Pearse Park on the Friday afternoon before the match looking for it to be called off because of their objection to Conor Shields's sending off in the quarter-final, having previously refused to send in a team list for the same reason, which is why that page on the match programme was blank. Their request was refused by the County Board Executive.

It's not the first time that this sort of thing has gone on in the lead-up to a championship match between the two clubs; back in 2010, Clonguish threatened the County Board with action up to and including a court injunction if their playoff against Mullinalaghta wasn't cancelled, and were told in no uncertain terms to get lost. I - or anyone else in Mullinalaghta - don't have a problem with the Clonguish players or with most of their officials or supporters; Clonguish have a problem with one particular individual within the club who fancies himself as a backroom mover and shaker and a barrack-room lawyer.

In both the above instances, I think the legal "noises off" ended up damaging Clonguish because of the distraction factor; certainly last week we said nothing within our own club about what was going on in the background and concentrated on the football instead.

(And as an aside, Spinx, I don't have a problem with FMG either. Given the state we were in back in April, we deserved to be beaten by you and were beaten well; I was actually disappointed that you didn't get as far as the quarter-finals. The fact that we have gone from that state we were in in April to where we are at the moment is a tribute to Gerry Lynn's management skills and his ability to motivate a squad.)

If we want to talk about bad sportsmanship, the Colmcille GFC notes in this week's Leader give a better example than I can of Clonguish's "legal department" insisting on the letter of the law when it suited them to do so and refusing requests from the County Executive to show flexibility in the matter when subsequent events made the timescale for matches less urgent.

The treatment of Colmcille annoys me (listening to the detailed account at last week's County Board, I felt embarrassed that any club would behave like that), whereas the play-acting before our semi-final was just a comic turn. Saying that Clonguish have reached the minor semi-final without playing a match is not me being a bad winner or loser, it's simply stating a fact.

We'll let the final speak for itself. If we win, we win; if we don't, then we don't.

[Shamrock Shore]

A fine measured response Laureleye.

BTW welcome Spinx. We encourage debate here (it doesn't happen too often) but make sure you don't get personal.

The facts are certainly Clonguish tried to get a county semi final postponed over a red-card issue and then refused to send in a team sheet.
Which is not 'normal' behaviour, you will agree.

[Spinx]

Fair enough points lads. What was happening in Mullinalaghta earlier in the season? Why was there a change in management a few games into the season and how did Lynn come about getting in there? He has done a fabulous job.

[LaurelEye]

Fair enough points lads. What was happening in Mullinalaghta earlier in the season?

Briefly, the usual sort of thing that can often happen to a team after an unexpectedly good season. I'll let you fill in the blanks although it shouldn't be too hard.

Why was there a change in management a few games into the season and how did Lynn come about getting in there? He has done a fabulous job.

The parting of the ways came immediately after the FMG game (and I think the crisis that it created acted as a necessary jolt). We were looking around for a new manager for a few weeks after that and Gerry Lynn was interested and was in place for the Slashers game.

[North Longford]

Really annoying what has happened with the Colmcille minors. Saw them training and playing quite a bit when home during the summer and could not speak highly enough about the job Mickey Harkins and the lads had done with them. Have never seen anything like the numbers at training but if you know Mickey then you don't miss training!! Although I'm pretty sure if he hadn't done such a goo job with them then there may have been a bit more flexibility shown . I took a quick look through Northern Gaels (who I'm sure will easily win the minor) results this year to date and Colmcille came by a distance the closest team to them so far. I'm sure its a fact not gone unnoticed in Clonguish who already had 2 cracks at them.

[LaurelEye]

I was at Colmcille vs Northern Gaels and it was very much Squeaky Bum Time right up to the end. Only for LD Law putting in their tuppence ha'penny worth, I think Colmcille might well have been in a semi-final.

[LaurelEye]

Latest odds from Paddy P:

Killoe 6/4 6/5 10/11 11/10 8/11 4/11 1/3
Mullinalaghta 13/2 11/2 7/1 9/2 11/2 6/1 5/1 3/1

15/2 the draw.

[LaurelEye]

Intermediate final:

Carrickedmond 0-7 Seán Connollys 0-7

Replay next Saturday in Pearse Park.

[Shamrock Shore]

Is it too late to start an on-line petition to ban The Longford Pipe Band from next Sunday's match?

That said did U hear somewhere that Columbas are referred to in the match program as 'Mullingachta' at least 3 times.

Shoddy, Ted. Shoddy.