Football Championship

Longford Senior Footballers participated in the following Championship competitions up to 2022:

1) All-Ireland Championship (1968 only)
2) Leinster Championship (From 1904)
3) All Ireland Qualifiers (2001-2019)
4) All Ireland ‘B’ Championship (1990-2000)
5) Tommy Murphy Cup (2004-2008)
6) Tailteann Cup (From 2022)

From the above list of Championship competitions, the Tommy Murphy Cup and All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship have been discontinued, and the All-Ireland Qualifiers is exclusively for those who qualify for the All-Ireland Championship since 2022. Longford now competes in the Leinster Championship and Tailteann Cup competitions. Since 2022, if Longford gains promotion to Division 1 or 2 of National Football League, or reaches the Leinster Championship final, the county will qualify to play in the All-Ireland Championship (Tier 1) rather than Tailteann Cup (Tier 2).

Longford played 224 games across a range of Senior Football Championship competitions from 1904 to 2022. Longford Won 80 (36%), Drew 16 (7%) and Lost 128 (57%).

The first reference to Longford in Championship competition was in 1896, drawn against Kilkenny in Leinster SFC. However there is no record of any match taking place. In 1897 Longford was drawn against Westmeath in Leinster SFC, but again no record of any match taking place. The first recorded match took place in February 1897 when Longford (represented by Longford Shamrocks) played Louth (represented by Drogheda Emmets) in the delayed 1896 Croke Cup. Louth won by 2-8 to 0-3 on 14th February 1897. The Croke Cup was a knockout competition which took place from 1896 to 1915. Worth noting that county teams were represented by the foremost club team in the county during these early years.

Longford’s first game in Leinster SFC was in 1904, losing to Westmeath by 0-7 to 0-5. There is some uncertainty around whether this was Senior or Junior grade. Longford was regraded to Junior and competed in the Leinster Junior Football Championship from 1905 until that Junior competition was discontinued from 1917 to 1920. Longford then played in Leinster Senior Championship instead from 1917 to 1920 before reverting back to the re-organised Leinster Junior Championship from 1921 to 1924, winning the Leinster JFC title in 1924 (awarded after an objection) and competing at Senior grade from 1925 to 1930. Longford returned to Junior grade from 1931 to 1937, and won the Leinster JFC and All-Ireland JFC titles in 1937, thus gaining promotion to Leinster SFC from 1938, and remaining at senior grade ever since. Longford won the Leinster JFC title again in 1953 while also having a senior team in the Leinster SFC competition.

Longford qualified for the All-Ireland Championship (knockout stage) just once, in 1968, losing to Kerry in the All-Ireland semi final having won the Leinster SFC title for the first (and thus far only) time in 1968. Longford participates in the Leinster SFC annually. From 1990 to 2000 Longford also participated in All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship, which was the GAA’s first attempt at a tier 2 Championship. This was scrapped in 2001 and replaced by the All-Ireland Qualifier series to give teams eliminated in the early stages of the Provincial Championship a chance to gain entry to the All-Ireland Championship via a back door route. Longford competed in the All-Ireland Qualifiers every year from 2001 to 2019. The GAA attempted another tier 2 Championship via the Tommy Murphy Cup from 2004 to 2008, for teams eliminated from the early stages of the All-Ireland Qualifier series. Longford participated in the Tommy Murphy Cup just once (in 2005) and won two games, before losing to Wexford in the Semi Final. As with the All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship, this competition failed to take root and was eventually scrapped.

From 2022, Longford competes in Leinster SFC and Tailteann Cup competitions. If Longford fails to reach the Leinster Final or finishes the League in Divisions 3 or 4, they compete in the Tailteann Cup which is a new Tier 2 Championship launched in 2022. Participation in the All-Ireland Championship (aka Sam Maguire Cup) is therefore limited to the top 16 teams in the country consisting of the 8 teams who reach the Provincial Finals and the next highest 8 teams from Divisions 1 and 2 of National Football League.

Longford qualified for the All-Ireland Football Championship (knockout) stage once, losing to Kerry in the All Ireland semi-final on 4th August 1968.

Longford 2-11
Kerry 2-13

The game was played in Croke Park in front of an attendance of 34,052 and was refereed by Dr. Mick Loftus from Mayo, who would go on to serve as President of the GAA from 1985 to 1988. The game (which was lauded as an enthralling spectacle) included 8 wides and 18 frees for Longford while Kerry had 13 wides and 9 frees. The Longford team that day was: J. Heneghan, S. Flynn, L. Gillen, P. Barden, B. Barden, J. Donlon, J.P Reilly, M. Reilly, T. Mulvihill, J. Devine, J. Hannify, V. Daly (Captain), P. Burke, M. Hopkins, S. Donnelly. Subs: M. Burns for Burke, B. Gilmore for Donlon. Longford scorers included Jackie Devine 1-4, Tom Mulvihill 1-2, Mick Hopkins 0-3 & Jimmy Hannify 0-2. [Match Report]

Statistically, the Leinster SFC has not been a happy hunting ground for Longford teams, with only 1 title in 50 wins from 159 games between 1904 and 2022, and only 2 Leinster semi-final appearances in the 50 years leading up to 2022 (1988 & 2018). Longford won the Leinster SFC title once in 1968, reached the Leinster Final twice (1965 & 1968) and reached the Semi Final stage 11 times (2018, 1988, 1970, 1968, 1967, 1965, 1959, 1954, 1952, 1944 & 1928). Longfords most frequent opponent in Leinster SFC is Westmeath with the sides meeting 29 times. Dublin and Offaly are the next most frequent opponent with 19 meetings each. Longford played a total of 159 games in Leinster SFC,  Won 50 (31%), Drew 14 (9%) and Lost 95 (60%).

Longford footballer Jimmy Hannify (Fr. Manning Gaels) was joint top scorer in the 1970 Leinster SFC with 1-21, while Longford’s John McCormack (Killoe Young Emmets) was top scorer in the 1988 Leinster SFC with 1-21. Longford’s biggest winning margins in the Leinster SFC came against Kilkenny (+25) in 1976, Wicklow (+16) in 1972 and Kildare (+12) in 1952, while the biggest defeats include Dublin (-27) in 2015, Dublin (-26) in 1960, Dublin (-24) in 1976 and Meath (-22) in 2021.

In terms of winning runs in Leinster, Longford’s longest is three games, achieved in both 1965 (including reaching the Leinster Final) and 1968 (including winning the Leinster title). In terms of losing streaks, Longford’s longest is eight games stretching from the Quarter Final loss to Meath in 1990 until the streak was broken by a draw with Wexford in 1998 which was followed by a win in the replay which was the first Leinster Championship win in 8 seasons. Longford played 36 games in Leinster SFC between 2000 and 2022 – Won 10, drew 3 and lost 23.

Longford competed in the All-Ireland Football Qualifiers from their inaugural year in 2001 until 2019, and fared much better in this competition than in Leinster SFC. Longford played 37 games against 23 different counties in Qualifiers, registering 18 wins and 19 losses and reaching the 3rd round four times and the 4th round once. There were no Qualifiers in 2020 or 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and structural changes to All-Ireland Championship from 2022 meant that teams have to finish the League season in Divisions 1 or 2 in order to participate in the All-Ireland Qualifier series from that point. Longford’s best run in the Qualifiers was in 2004 when the team advanced to the 4th round (last 16), losing out to the eventual All-Ireland champions Kerry in a very memorable day in Killarney.

Longford competed in the All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship from 1990 to 2000, reaching and losing the final three times. Longford played 23 games against 10 different counties from 1990 to 2000, Won 10, Drew 2 and Lost 11, and reaching the decider in 1991, 1995 & 1996. The 1996 final went to a replay following a controversial injury time free awarded to Fermanagh. In 1995 the competition moved from its usual Autumn/Winter slot to the Summer instead, leading to Fermanagh, Sligo, Antrim and Clare pulling out of the competition due to players otherwise engaged in club competition, and reducing that years competition to a farce. In 1999 only eight counties entered the competition. In 2000 Longford conceded their round 1 game to Wicklow with management unable to field a strong enough side due to injuries and players missing due to ongoing club commitments. This first attempt at a tier 2 Championship ended in a shambles, and was defined for much of its history by poor attendances, lackluster support from the public, obscure dates/times/venues for games, and a distinct lack of marketing or prestige throughout.

The All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship winners down the years were:

1990: Leitrim (beat Sligo)
1991: Clare (beat Longford AET)
1992: Wicklow (beat Antrim)
1993: Laois (beat Sligo)
1994: Carlow (beat Westmeath)
1995: Tipperary (beat Longford)
1996: Fermanagh (beat Longford in replay)
1997: Louth (beat Clare)
1998: Monaghan (beat Fermanagh)
1999: Antrim (beat Fermanagh)
2000: Fermanagh (beat Wicklow)

Note: The Monaghan v Longford 1st round tie in 1998 All-Ireland B Championship was the 1st inter-county GAA match played under floodlights.