Longford SFC: Will Clonguish and Killoe reach the county final?

On the evidence of what was witnessed in the quarter-finals, the general opinion is that any of the four clubs left in the race for the 2026 senior football championship title could lift the Connolly Cup!

With the notable exception of their late collapse in almost letting victory slip from their grasp, Dromard were razor sharp in getting the better of neighbouring rivals Colmcille in the quarter-final.

Impressive stuff, to say the least, with many of the large attendance suggesting that the team coached by one of their former players Niall Vance could actually be good enough to win the county title.

The return of Matt Duffy from his time with Carlton in Australian rules football is certainly a big boost and with other quality attackers in Aaron Farrell, Joseph Hagan, Fionn Hourican and the evergreen Francis McGee, Dromard will be difficult to beat.

Providing the opposition in the eagerly awaited semi-final on Sunday will be the bookies favourites Clonguish who had to endure a bit of a struggle against the surprise packet Ardagh Moydow in the previous round.

Having said that, Dom Corrigan’s charges still won by the comfortable margin of 8 points while the excellent opposing keeper Cian O’Beirne produced a string of saves to keep last year’s Intermediate champions in contention.

​Like Dromard, Clonguish also pack a lot of scoring power with Jack Duggan, Matthew Carey, Matthew Flynn, Michael Flynn and James Hagan a lethal combination should they succeed in making the desired impact.

A tremendous tussle is in prospect and Clonguish, knocking at the door in recent years, will probably have the edge in coming through to contest the final on Sunday October 11th.

Abbeylara are another of the title contenders who will be quietly confident of repeating the success they enjoyed a couple of years ago and they take on the title holders Killoe in the other semi-final on Saturday evening.

Even without the long term casualty PJ Masterson and who were also missing injured trio Cian Brady. Bryan Mulvihill and Colin Gina in the convincing quarter-final win over Slashers, there was still no stopping Abbeylara.

Powered by the commanding pair of Ciaran Scanlon and Caolan Lynch at centrefield and the pace of Cathal Giligan, Sean Fagan and Dylan Ledwith in the forward division, the team who are engineered by Frankie Dolan in his third season as the manager are formidable opposition.

Not depending as much on the scoring prowess of Robbie Smyth, the significant return of Colm P Smyth after a lengthy absence is a definite plus for the 2024 county champions.

It is hard to judge where Killoe stand in the pecking order at the moment with their constant injury problems not helping the cause this season but they are still there under the guidance of the current manager Paul O’Hara, one of their former players.

While Emmet Og produced a poor performance by their high standard to get past Granard, the very scrappy quarter-final was played in extremely difficult wet conditions and was littered with mistakes - mainly due to the adverse weather.

That fact was clearly reflected in a low scoring battle (1-8 to 0-9) as Killoe just about withstood a determined late, late comeback by St Mary’s who failed to fire on the big occasion.

A big boost for the Young Emmets is the emergence of the towering young midfielder Enda Quinn, who was impressive in the win over Granard, and with all their vast experience in most of the other positions on the team a hesitant vote goes to the crafty champions.

​Peter Hanley Motors Senior Football Championship Semi-Finals

​Saturday September 26

​Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 5.15pm

​Killoe Emmet Og v Abbeylara

​Prediction: Killoe

​Sunday September 27

Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 4.15pm

​Clonguish v Dromard

Prediction: Clonguish