Longford manager Mike Solan very pleased with the second half display in the vital victory over Carlow

The Longford senior footballers have recovered brilliantly from their opening day league loss to London to remain unbeaten since with wins over Waterford and Antrim and a draw against Tipperary, but Sunday’s five-point victory over table toppers Carlow was the most impressive result of the campaign.

Wins in their last two outings away to Leitrim and at home to Wicklow will guarantee second-placed Longford promotion to Division 3  and speaking after this vital victory, the Longford manager Mike Solan admitted that promotion is now a very realistic possibility but they still need to be grounded.

"We are not avoiding the question of being in the promotion hunt, but we are just taking one game at a time and not looking further than the next fixture. Last week we got ourselves into a winning position against Tipperary and we had to settle for the draw.

“We got ourselves into that position again today, but thankfully, we learned a few lessons from last week and we were able to see the win over the line. We have put ourselves into a really good position now but we have to prepare for our trip to Carrick-on-Shannon in two weeks. 

“After the postponement of the original Waterford match, we have played five weeks on the trot now, and that has been an intense schedule for the lads, so with no game this weekend, it will be a great opportunity for the players to have a few days off and to relax.”

Playing against the wind does not seem to faze the Longford team and against both Carlow and Tipperary, they managed playing against the wind in the second half impressively, and Solan agreed that the wind has not really been a factor in either game.

“Playing with the wind has not really proven to be a big advantage in our games, a good decision is a good decision when you have the ball in your hands, regardless of whether you have the breeze or don’t have the breeze. 

“We always say to the lads that the next decision is the key decision as you can’t control what has already happened, so just move on and I think we adapted to that thinking really well today.”

Longford created plenty of good goal chances but only converted the one but crucially it came just three minutes after Carlow had equalised with a two-pointer. Oran Kenny set-up James Moran for what proved to be the match winning moment for the home side. Solan was happy that their attacking play created a lot of chances and he was even happier with how his charges finished the game.

“You always want to see those goal chances going in but James put the ball away that time and it gave us momentum and the bit of breathing space we needed, but from our perspective, we are pleased that we are creating the chances and we created them with good hard running into the wind.

“The boys finished the game really well, and I expected that of them, because we have that quality and we have the players who have that game sense and that game intelligence to be able to do that. 

“We missed a couple of chances that would have finished off Tipp last week, but when we got the chances today, we were able to take them, and I am absolutely delighted.”

Mike acknowledged that there has been a major  improvement since the home loss to London in the opening game, but that circumstances had gone against them ahead of that defeat.

“Before the London game, we did not get to play our fixture against Westmeath in the O’Byrne Cup due to the weather, and the weather again intervened and resulted in our scheduled opening league game away to Waterford also postponed.

“So we had no competitive game for a couple of weeks, and being able to generate that bit of form and getting that game fitness into the lads has been very important since that poor display against London.”

Looking ahead to the next match in a couple of weeks time against Leitrim, Solan said that they will prepare for it like they have every other game.

“Our approach to the Leitrim game will be no different. We will do the video work and try to get all the bodies ready for that game, and it will be the same process repeated again.

“We would have huge respect for Leitrim; we know what they are capable of. I was involved with them for a couple of years, and I know the quality of the players, and we will have plenty of respect for the challenge that they will bring.”