Longford build on Kenny's influence

It was a terrific scene. Stephen Kenny standing amongst Longford's deliriously happy supporters, many of whom were congratulating him as if the club had just completed the final leg of the treble, warning people not to get carried away. The words "shutting", "stable door", "horse" and "bolted" sprang readily to mind.

The jubilation of the locals was understandable, though, for in truly awful conditions Longford's players turned in as committed a display against Shamrock Rovers on Sunday as any side will in the Premier Division this season.

Watching it were some 2,200 supporters. Afterwards Kenny observed that it sometimes seemed as though the locals, because they have no great tradition of following the game, were still learning to be fans but on this performance you'd have to say they were catching on pretty well for the noise, at times, was quite deafening.

The fact that 600 of those at the game watched it from the partially completed stand may not sound like too big a deal to anybody who has not been to Strokestown Road, but it's not too long since there were no seats and next to no cover in the ground at all. If things go to plan there will be 1,500 seats, a bar and a range of other facilities in the stand by early in the new year. There will also be state of the art all-weather training facilities which will be available for use for the local community, as well as other improvements to the spectator facilities.

None of which is news, for the plans have been in place for some time now but the fact that work on the various improvements was so obvious on Sunday added to the sense that Longford is a club that is very much on the move.

Only last week Bertie Ahern and Albert Reynolds were there, making positive noises about the next round of lottery grants. The figures being hinted at were, reckoned club officials, enough to wrap up the current round of developments and to get on with a range of other improvements. The pity is that the FAI finds itself unable to deliver on its undertakings of support.

All of which would be rather pointless if things weren't going well on the pitch but even before Sunday's memorable defeat of Damien Richardson's side there were few problems on that score.

Like Rovers, Longford went out to win the game and even after they conceded a first-half goal from a surprisingly straightforward deal-ball situation, they displayed a relentless determination to retrieve the deficit that most managers can only dream of.

Kenny's relationship with his players has always seemed rather special, though. Stephen Kelly, a former Dundalk player who scored the winner, explained that many players, after struggling to fit in elsewhere, had found their niche with Kenny at Strokestown Road. It's not the money that has them wearing black and red, because none received signing-on fees and Kenny's wage bill remains exceptionally low by Premier Division standards.

At training last week, Kenny warned the squad that if they reckoned their futures were going to be about consolidating what they achieved so far then it would be better if they moved on now. Late on in Sunday's match, as the rain belted down, Rovers had their best spell of the game and as every local player threw himself into the defence of the two extra points that come with a win, it was clear how they'd taken the message.

So the directors believe that by the end of the season they will have developed their ground beyond recognition but will not be a penny in debt. And the players believe they can take the club to places that, even three seasons ago, would have seemed laughable to consider aiming for.

In a league where too many of the stories seem to be about the daily struggle to achieve survival, it's nice to remember the occasional fairytale exists as well.

emalone@irish-times.ie