Longford boss Paddy Christie believing for a boost in the championship!

While the outcome of the Leinster Senior Football Championship is a foregone conclusion such is the total dominance of Dublin, it is still a big stage for all the other competing counties in the province.

The odds might be heavily stacked against Longford who face a major task against Meath in the opening round of the current campaign but the manager Paddy Christie will believe that a big upset could be caused at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday, throw-in 3pm. 

 For that to have any chance of happening it will take a tremendous effort from a team lacking in confidence in the aftermath of the demoralising defeat against Wexford in the last round of the league.

That horrendous result destroyed Longford’s chance of gaining promotion from Division 4 and the rocky road to redemption begins this weekend with possibly a slight glimmer of hope of crossing the first hurdle.

While Meath just about avoided relegation in the NFL Division 2, their boss Colm O’Rourke was in some sort of a comfort zone in the knowledge that his charges were already guaranteed a place in the group stage of the 2024 All-Ireland Championship on the basis of their Ta\iltean Cup triumph last year.

O’Rourke has introduced a lot of promising young players and while the inexperience factor might be a problem, the Royals are operating at a different level and are highly unlikely to slip up in their bid to earn a crack at the All-Ireland champions Dublin in the next round.

The target for Longford is clearly the Tailteann Cup but Christie stated that his team will have a ‘good cut at it’ against Meath and a strong display will surely be a big boost in the build up to the Tier 2 competition. 

That is Longford’s level at the moment but at least the players can dream about another home game in the Leinster Championship against mighty Dublin a week later.

Hopefully, there will be no nightmare scenario against Meath as was the case in the first half against Wexford when it was all over as a contest at the break with the wide margin of 10 points separating the sides.

“The vast majority of the team did not do themselves justice against Wexford and we are better than that’” commented Christie.

“We must also show as a management team that we are better than that. We went to Wexford with the best of intentions in seeking the win we needed to gain promotion but the poorer we played in the first half the more we froze.

“The Longford supporters who made the long trip for the game were naturally very disappointed but hopefully they will have something to shout about as we endeavour to have a proper cut at it against Meath. 

“We failed to produce the positive form we showed in winning the previous four games in the league and the first half collapse against Wexford really killed us.

“We could not get back into contention despite enjoying some good passages of football in the second half and it was just a bad day for us,” said the optimistic Longford boss.