Longford ready to make huge leap

All-Ireland SFC qualifierLongford manager Luke Dempsey has been around the GAA house for a number of years but hatching a plan to outfox Kerry in Killarney, in late July no less, is uncharted territory.

The certain matter of a backlash is on Dempsey's mind but so too is the "what if" of a lifetime. "It's ironic considering I was talking to Jack O'Connor for research purposes before both the Waterford and Tipperary games and now this," he said.

Dempsey guided Westmeath to a minor All-Ireland title in 1995. An under-21 All-Ireland title followed three years later before he was handed the main job in his native county. That ended sourly with the county board usurping him for a Kerryman. Páidí Ó Sé inherited the golden underage generation Dempsey nurtured and immediately worked the famous "oracle" to produce a first provincial title in 2004.

Dempsey resurfaced in Carlow and finally proved his worth in a championship scrap by engineering an unlikely qualifier run that included a surprise victory over Longford.

Geographical convenience contributed to the next move but Dempsey also saw the untapped potential of Longford football. The first year was primarily about laying foundations. This season the management was allowed pick their own team after two long-standing pillars retired.

The game plan, seemingly forever, had been to feed ball into Niall Sheridan at full forward and watch him score, draw a free or offload to Padraic Davis, who would pop it over the bar. Dempsey had little option but to persevere with such dated tactics as Paul Barden, Liam Keenan and Trevor Smullen were all injured.

"When Niall and Padraic didn't come back we had to change. We, and I say 'we' because Declan Rowley, Eugene McCarthy and myself are like a joint management, took the under-21s as well because there were 11 under-21s on the senior panel."

The under-21s played a significant role in fostering the winning mentality by reaching the Leinster final where, in Dempsey's words: "We left it behind us against Laois."

The watershed was a narrow defeat to Dublin on June 4th. Getting such a high-profile game to Pearse Park immediately attracted public interest. The next task was to keep their attention. After Dublin the panel was reduced to 24. Only the extremely committed remained.

"It was the old Longford thing; when players didn't like what they see they go back to the clubs where they are welcomed like kings. The remaining 24 have really bought into the whole meaning of intercounty football."

"The old Longford always expected to be beaten in early summer and happily went back to the clubs for the local championship. The mindset was wrong . . . In my first summer here I had to park miles from the ground when attending a club championship game. There was huge interest but this needed to be balanced a bit better. Longford people are gradually taking down the barrier. It was like a GAA island; once the county team lost in Leinster, the focus immediately switched to club rivalry. Many didn't even know who we were playing in the qualifiers."

Waterford and Tipperary enabled Longford to gain momentum. By the time Derry rolled into town, they were more than ready to rip into the one-time potential Ulster champions.

"It would have been a shame if it was all over after the first qualifier. When Derry came out of the hat for round three, at home, we saw it as another day out for all the Longford people. Another Dublin in the one summer.

"I saw this level of excitement before in Westmeath with the minor All-Ireland in 1995 and what followed. I was proud to be part of that and this gives me great pleasure again now."

What comes next is a massive leap. The journey south is a gripe Dempsey still holds.

"It becomes more realistic if we had the game in Longford. It seems right now to be daunting and unfair as travelling such a distance requires huge levels of organisation. On the positive side we are thrilled to be still involved.

"Derry was the first time many of these Longford players experienced a big win in the championship. It is a priceless feeling. These players should look on this match as the ultimate experience of being a county player. This is what it is all about.

"I think they will enjoy it. Some of our players are only 19 so Seamus Moynihan and Darragh Ó Sé would be seen as heroes to many of them. I don't think they will mind travelling to Killarney."