Search Results for 'Longford'

I travelled to Pearse Park, Longford, last Saturday, not quite sure what to expect. It was awful stuff, arguably as bad as I have witnessed from any Mayo team at this level. It is difficult to apportion blame to any single individual. There is a collective responsibility on everyone involved to shoulder some blame for the embarrassing display. The team definitely looked demoralised, in some cases disinterested, with a few others clearly not physically fit enough to play and win at this level. However despite this I did send a text to a number of people at half time suggesting that Mayo would probably win the match, not because we were playing any better than our opposition, but because Longford were dreadful.

The second time around is never as good as the first, while John O'Mahony's first tenure in charge of Mayo ended in 1992 contentious conclusions, his second term ended at the lowest possible ebb for a side who were considered by most to within the top ten sides in the country. Longford came into the game on the back of a defeat at the hands of Louth in the championship, and two wins in the national league against the minnows of London and Kilkenny. Cannon fodder they should have been for a team which reached the division one league final, while the defeat is hard to take, there is only one way from here for Mayo and that is up.

The second time around is never as good as the first, while John O'Mahony's first tenure in charge of Mayo ended in 1992 contentious conclusions, his second term ended at the lowest possible ebb for a side who were considered by most to within the top ten sides in the country. Longford came into the game on the back of a defeat at the hands of Louth in the championship, and two wins in the national league against the minnows of London and Kilkenny. Cannon fodder they should have been for a team which reached the division one league final, while the defeat is hard to take, there is only one way from here for Mayo and that is up.

Longford:1-12

I always find it exciting when waiting to see what teams are paired against each other from the qualifier draw. I watched it live last weekend and once it was decided it would be Longford a good lively discussion took place about Mayo’s chances of progress. Most felt Mayo would be capable of beating Longford, a team that had a very mediocre season to date. When it was clarified later that evening that Longford had been awarded the home advantage for the match on Saturday June 26 (information that was not to hand when the discussion took place earlier), the task looked that little bit more difficult. I suggested in this column last week that it might be better for all if Mayo were drawn against a top tier side. Armagh, Derry, Kildare, or Donegal immediately spring to mind. Had we been drawn against any one of these teams and managed a victory, I feel the team could redeem itself and could certainly give us some hope for a reasonably good run through the qualifiers. However a match against Longford in Pearse Park just doesn’t set the pulse racing for me and I hope this particular clash gets the team a little more excited than I feel about it right now. I watched Longford play Louth in the Leinster Championship two weeks ago. It was a game they could so easily have won and they played without their star man, Brian Kavanagh. Their other star forward, Paul Barden, did play that evening, but was not 100 per cent fit. Both apparently are back training and will start against Mayo. Also in recent years I have attended the compact Longford venue and witnessed the home side frighten the lives out of very formidable opposition. I recall in 2006 a Dublin team looking mightily relieved to leave the midlands after scraping a two point victory over the home side. Longford sent Derry packing the year before in a qualifier game. Most of you will recall Kerry really struggling to beat them last year. So when their manager Glen Ryan suggested last week that he didn’t care who his side were drawn against as long as they had a home draw, you can fully understand where he was coming from.

The deplorable condition of the N5 Dublin road between Westport and Longford was picked up by the national media this week when the Pat Kenny RTE Radio 1 show came to town.

Longford/Westmeath Oireachtas members will go back to school today, Friday, when they pay a visit to students at Templemichael College Longford.

Mount St Michael, Claremorris 1-15

A mother of 10 was jailed for 12 months and banned from driving for 10 years in her absence in the District Court this week (April 14).

A man remains in a critical condition in Mullingar hospital after his lorry overturned during a five-vehicle collision on the Mullingar bypass on Wednesday morning this week.