Former Clonguish and Longford great Jimmy Flynn recalls the glory days

 “To win the League was a great achievement for a small county like Longford and although there was a lot of dedication on the part of the players I think Mick Higgins has to take a lot of the credit for it.

“He was never a hard taskmaster in training or anything but he grew into the job with us. There was always great local rivalry between ourselves and Cavan but Longford people up to then had never much to shout about in comparison with our northern neighbours but we changed that. He gave us the confidence to do it. 

“We should have won the Leinster final in 1965. We were a far better team than Dublin on the day but we hadn't the experience nor the confidence. We didn't drive home our advantage. 

“I was marking Des Foley that day and I remember talking to him about it later and he pointed out that they had got two very soft goals from speculative balls that went into the square.”  

Flynn though points out that Higgins was not the only one responsible for the upturn in Longford's fortunes:

“We had a great county Chairman in Jimmy Flynn (no relation). He had a very cool head and was a very astute man. Another key figure was our manager Fr Phil McGee (brother of Eugene). He had a great love for the game. It was much more a passion than an interest for him and you need people like that behind you.

“In 1966 we were invited to go to America. I well remember Fr Phil making a statement which I think he regretted afterwards.” 

He said, “We'll go to America when we're All-Ireland champions”. 

“We never got there! There was no such thing as foreign holidays then. You were lucky if you got to stay in a good hotel before a big match.”

Surprisingly Flynn does not see the victory over Galway as the defining moment in Longford's changing fortunes: 

“One of the great memories I have of that League campaign was of playing Sligo who had a very strong team that year. They were a bit like ourselves in that they could have made the breakthrough especially as they had Mickey Kearins who was a fantastic footballer. When Sligo wanted to beat you they dragged you into Ballymote which was a fairly remote part of the country. 

“Our sub goalie was the late Michael ‘’Smiler’’ Fay but on that day he was doing the sideline. At one stage John Donlon got the ball towards the end of the game and ballooned it over the line. It was as clear as the nose on your face it was a line ball to Sligo but Smiler gave it to us. 

“Afterwards we got a point and stole the match. The Sligo crowd were incensed by that and rightly so. When the game was over the crowd were baying for Smiler's blood. Smiler saved a fair few goals for Longford in his playing career but he saved that match for us and I believe that was the day we won the League.”

In the build-up to the League final Galway looked invincible but an indication that they did not regard Longford as pushovers came when they flew their outstanding half-back Martin Newell from Frankfurt where he was attending university. Longford though won by 0-9 to 0-8. Eight of Longford's points came from Bobby Burns while Sean Murray got the remaining score. Jimmy Flynn's high fielding and work-rate earned him the man of the match accolade:

“There were hardly 5000 people left in the county the day of the final. When we got home on the Monday evening we hopped on a truck. I'll always remember Larry Cunningham, who was at the height of his fame, got up with us and sang a song. Particularly as it was the first time we won a national title there were ecstatic celebrations in the county. Although we didn't become Longford's answer to the Beatles at least when any of us went to a dance in Rooskey after that we were recognised!

“The final was one of those days when you are up for it and the game went well for me. The one incident I remember most from the game was Martin Newell coming up the field with the ball and hitting a diagonal pass to Cyril Dunne. I intercepted it and there was nobody between me and the goal - which was about 70 yards away. 

“We were two points up at the time and there was about ten minutes to go and I was very tired. I soloed through and had nobody to beat but the goalie but I shaved the post and put it wide. I fell on the ground with exhaustion and I can still hear Jackie Devine saying to me, “Why didn't you f***ing pass the ball to me?” It made for an agonising finish because Galway were throwing everything at us but our backs held out well.

“The memory though that stays with me to this day is of the joy on the faces of the Longford crowd. We had a hell of a night in Power's Hotel afterwards and a hell of a day the following day. The party finished on Tuesday - but I'm not saying which Tuesday! 

“We came down to earth with a bang though when we lost in the first round of the Leinster Championship against Louth. I thought though it was unfair to us to have to play a championship match just two weeks after winning the League final.”

100 Great GAA Teams by John Scally is available in all good bookshops now