“We were not good enough for Division 3” - Longford manager Paddy Christie

Sheedy’s former Dublin colleague Paddy Christie could offer no such mitigation after Saturday night’s defeat in Newry confirmed the team’s relegation, and moreover, he had no wish to do so, accepting the group’s fate as the natural sporting outcome for a very poor league campaign. 

“We’re in Division 4  because we were not  good enough for Division 3, so you just have to put that to bed” he told the Leader after the game. 

“I was involved with Tipperary where we went down to Division 4 , ironically at the hands of Longford, but we won a couple of games, got to a league final. The leagues don’t lie, we’re not hard done by and the lads will admit that, they’re very honest. We can say across most matches, we weren’t good enough, we’ve been struggling most of the time”. 

“All we had was flashes here and there, in halves” he continued. 

“We had a great first half against Westmeath and an awful second half, good second half against Cavan after a very poor first half. The Offaly game was the game that got away. We were going quite well there, like the Tipperary game where we were going quite well and we conceded an awful goal from an unforced error, and we’ve been punished each time, while we’re not punishing the same mistakes from other teams. 

“I was always sceptical of our pre-season form, and what it really meant. In the O’Byrne Cup, we were playing experimental teams, managers were trying out players. We had a good result against Meath but it wasn’t their starting 15, they only had five or six of them. 

“We’re trying to build for the future and in that regard you’re trying to mould younger players into something, but when it came down to it tonight, you’re still relying on Darren Gallagher to do something or an unbelievable performance from Mickey Quinn. I’m delighted that we got that from those lads, but you need younger fellas to step up as well”.

To his credit, he also brushed aside the suggestion that Sean Laverty’s call to award a penalty for Joseph Hagan’s deliberate pull down on Liam Kerr was a big swing moment. 

“I think it’s the lowest of the low to pick out referees when you’re beaten by a better team” he replied.

 “Yes, if the penalty wasn’t given and scored, we were attacking to get a draw near the end when we had that goal chance, but realistically, could you honestly say, hand on heart, that we deserved it? No, they were the better team on the night. Not by a huge amount, but for a team that had nothing to play for, they looked like they were up for it as much as we were and we didn’t have enough on the night”.

 In the quest for positives, Christie singled out some of his veterans, a promising cameo role from young Daire O’Brien at full-forward, and the fact that their best league performance came against the team that will come to town in the Leinster championship in two and a half weeks’ time. 

“As regards the championship, we’re playing Offaly, who arguably we should have beaten in the league, so that gives us a chance there. I’m sure they’ll still feel that they’re in pole position, they had a good result again today against Tipperary, but psychologically, we have something to aim for, and we have something to aim for in the Tailteann Cup, because when we got going in certain patches, we did play well”.

“It's a long term project here, we’ve a lot of younger fellas that we’ve to try and get into the mix, and we’ve lads coming back from injury that haven’t had a run. It’s important they all get a go to see what’s there for the future.”