Longford Football (& Hurling) Thread

Started by North Longford, November 17, 2006, 09:47:45 AM

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crossfire

Would some of you lads give me directions to Pearse Park.
I will be heading through Cavan town.

Many Thanks

LaurelEye

Quote from: crossfire on January 13, 2009, 09:26:03 PM
Would some of you lads give me directions to Pearse Park.
I will be heading through Cavan town.

Many Thanks

From Cavan, take the turn for Ballinagh (Bellananagh) and go on to Granard.

In Granard, turn right just after the Greville Arms Hotel and follow the signs for Ballinalee and Longford.

When you reach the roundabout on the Longford by-pass where it meets the Ballinalee Road beside the Abbott factory, take the right hand exit for Sligo and continue on to the next roundabout, where you turn left into the town. Pearse Park is a hundred yards or so further on on the right-hand side.
Leader Cup winners: 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023.

Billys Boots

Is it not a sign that things have (to put it mildly) not improved if the most outstanding player in the county is not being considered for the panel??  He's hardly a primadonna type either, and doesn't appear to be afraid of hard work.  Grim times ahead, while big Glenn advertises his wares.
My hands are stained with thistle milk ...

Longfordian

totally agree Billy ! ... dont see the logic with  this move , i dont know the lad personally , but by all accounts ,as you have said he is no primadonna .

North Longford

Hes no prima donna at all. Seen him at one of our training sessions last year (it was for Leinster a this stage) where we were doing a particularly intense drill and 1 in every 3 goes everyone should have had a rest period...........he wouldn't take one at all. Was actually quite funny because whatever the name for the affliction he had started to spread to other fellas in the group and we had to start to order fellas to take breaks so we'd have a couple of guys to receive the ball!!!
Can be a little hard to make out sometimes. I heard the stories about him not answerig the phone and to be honest that wouldn't totally surprise me because I think it would the easiest way for him to say no to going into training for a while rather than having to have a conversation with Glen Ryan about it. Not saying its right but it would be the way he is. He'd be one of the quietest guys in our dressing room.
Have heard 2 variations on the story of his absence. One that he didn't want to go in till January but was shown the door in the meantime.
I've recently heard that he wants to take a year out from the county. He's been going non stop for 6 or 7 years now and is said to be a bit peed of with it at the moment.
Need to preference all this with the fact that I wasn't speaking directly to him about it so both stories could be baloney

LaurelEye

#845
Quote from: North Longford on January 14, 2009, 11:38:02 AM
Hes no prima donna at all.

I wouldn't consider our fellow to be problematic at this stage either - he's matured a lot over the last couple of years and is very committed at club level. But he was being expected to travel up from Templemore three times a week during what is supposed to be a closed season where county training is concerned.
Leader Cup winners: 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023.

Billys Boots

If Ryan can't get the best players in the county to play for him (in reasonable circumstances), then he should stop pretending and go home.
My hands are stained with thistle milk ...

The Forfeit Point

well lads what sort of a team do ye reckon we will have out against the breifne boys? i really fear for us considering all the players that are missing! that is a decent cavan side that could well give us a bit of a hiding :-[

North Longford

I don't feel too good about it particuarly as my missus is from Cavan and for nearly as long as we're together Longford have nearly always beaten Cavan (mostly challenges) but I'll take anything.
Afraid the pendulum might swing back a long way next Sunday!

Billys Boots

Yesterday in the Indo - not looking like a pleasant day (year) out.

Monday January 26 2009 By Eugene McGee

In the past week, we heard that two prominent county footballers would not be taking part in the national football league and possibly the 2009 championship because they had decided to spend a lengthy spell in Australia during the coming year.

Keith Higgins, an outstanding footballer and hurler with Mayo, has told manager John O'Mahony he will not be back in Ireland until around June at the earliest. Fermanagh player Michael Murphy is already gone to Australia and will be there, according to present plans, for the rest of 2009. There is also word that 2008 Longford player of the year Declan Reilly may be taking a long sabbatical this year.

The departure of star players just as the new NFL campaign is about to start is a major trend among GAA players in recent years, many of whom take long breaks, often a year or more, away from the stresses and strains of inter-county action. Dozens of county players and hundreds of club players have followed the same route. At times like these, the players must be very happy that they are still amateurs. Were they anything less, they would not have the freedom to travel the world while their counties were striving for provincial or national success.

Headache

Players who are absent for the best part of a season are a huge loss and a major headache for team managers. The three lads mentioned, for instance, are all leading lights in their respective teams and apart from their absence taking from the teams' performances, there is the probability that their replacements will not be of the same calibre.

This applies particularly to smaller counties like Fermanagh and Longford. The latter look like being without their captain and regular midfielder of recent times, Liam Keenan, for the rest of 2009 because of a serious injury which represents a double whammy for Glenn Ryan in his first season. Undoubtedly there will be barstool philosophers in all these counties whose reaction will be predictable. They will blame the players and criticise them for 'letting their county down'. That is a simplistic attitude which is insulting to the players.

Much more important is to try to analyse why so many leading players decide to opt out for up to a year at a time at the peaks of their careers. The playing career of the average inter-county footballer has been declining over the past 25 years and probably runs at around eight years at the moment. So if an outstanding player decides to give up around 10pc of that career, there must be important reasons for doing so.

In the present economic climate, the temptation for many players to get away from Ireland for a year is great and hundreds of GAA players have gone in search of employment. But it is a different matter with players who have good employment and still opt to take 'leave of absence'.

The overwhelming reason is the desire to get a break. For some players, the almost year-long treadmill of training, gym work, matches and pressure involving club and county teams takes too heavy a toll mentally and physically. Many young men in their early twenties are also involved with third-level GAA teams and have major examinations to sit, often with very little consideration from the respective team managers.

Most managers whom I have met over the years regard players under their remit as robots. They are expected to perform like mechanical beings who respond to switches constantly being pulled by the manager. No allowances are made for personal problems, psychological frailties, domestic hassle, exam pressures, long-standing dormant injuries that impair performance and, of course, the monotonous approach to training in many cases that prove eventually so soul-destroying.

In every team there are players who are fanatics. They train seven days a week, go on diets or stuff themselves with the latest energy-boosting fads, constantly give out to team-mates who might not share their fanaticism and these players are regarded as heroes by managers and fans alike. Good luck to them, but not all players are fanatics, for which we should all be grateful! Some managers have a tendency to regard these fanatical players in their panel as the template for others to aspire to and this can do untold damage. The best managers know that every player has a different make-up and each needs to be handled in accordance with his particular traits, habits and psychological make-up. The failure to do this has cost many GAA teams players who have left either temporarily or for good over the years.

It often puzzles genuine GAA followers how a star player could opt out for a year as they look forward to big championship and league games ahead. But players know best if and when it is time to take an extended break. Followers only see the exterior side of the player as he wears the county colours in a game. But there is a lot more to playing county football than that and players have a very different attitude to the game than followers have. Their amateur status protects their decision-making rights.

My hands are stained with thistle milk ...

cavan4ever

Quote from: North Longford on January 26, 2009, 05:55:50 PM
I don't feel too good about it particuarly as my missus is from Cavan and for nearly as long as we're together Longford have nearly always beaten Cavan (mostly challenges) but I'll take anything.
Afraid the pendulum might swing back a long way next Sunday!

I hope your missus gives you plenty of stick Sunday evening  :D


North Longford

QuoteI hope your missus gives you plenty of stick Sunday evening  Cheesy

I think she'll claim its pay back time!

Billys Boots

I think one of the sweetest moments of recent years was when Longford sent its u21s to Breffni Park for a League game (due to injuries on a massive scale) and took the points.  :-*
My hands are stained with thistle milk ...

Shamrock Shore

That day the Windie contingents were missing as well due to the tragic death of a teammate in a motorbike accident. This was, what, 2000 or so and Longford would have had a large Windie prescence in the team.

Anyhoo Longford won with a Niall Sheridan grubby goal in the last minute.

I still remember the feeling leaving Breffni. Walking on air.

Strange how little Longford victories can almost mean more than an All Ireland to a Kerryman.

cavan4ever

Quote from: Billys Boots on January 28, 2009, 09:07:38 AM
I think one of the sweetest moments of recent years was when Longford sent its u21s to Breffni Park for a League game (due to injuries on a massive scale) and took the points.  :-*

When was that?