The Longford Senior Hurlers commence their Allianz National League Division 3B campaign this Sunday with a home game against Fermanagh, at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, with the match getting underway at 2pm.
Adrian Moran has replaced Derek Frehill as the Longford manager, and the Westmeath man has a strong backroom team that includes former Longford hurling star, Eoin Donnellan, while Johnny Casey is the Captain for the 2022 season.
The ‘Blue & Gold’ have featured in 5 Division 3B Finals over the last nine years, winning three and losing two. Bizarrely, all five of those finals were decided by two point margins.
In 2013, Longford beat Sligo by 1-08 to 0-09. They then played in three successive finals in 2015, 2016, & 2017.
In 2015, Longford lost to Warwickshire by 1-15 to 2-10 and again lost the 2016 final to Fermanagh by 2-13 to 3-08.
It was a case of third time lucky in 2017 as Longford were crowned Champions after beating Warwickshire in a very high scoring final by 4-19 to 3-20.
Longford were also champions in 2019 beating Sligo by 2-15 to 3-10.
The Midlanders had a solid Division 3A campaign in 2020, winning two and drawing one of their five matches to finish in fourth place, comfortably ahead of the bottom two.
Indeed, a victory at home to eventual champions Donegal at Michael Fay Memorial Park in the last round of matches could have propelled Longford into the final, but the Ulster side won by six points.
Unfortunately, a narrow defeat to Monaghan in their last league match in 2021 resulted in relegation back down to Division 3B
Fermanagh, as mentioned earlier won Division 3B in 2016 with that two point victory over Longford.
Last year was a case of Jekyll and Hyde for the Erne County. In a four team Division 3B, they could only finish third, with both Cavan and Champions Louth above them in the final standings.
However, they bounced back in spectacular fashion in the Championship by winning the Lory Meagher Cup. That title winning success included a fully deserved eight point triumph over Longford in the semi-final encounter at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.
The build up to the big game will continue over the next two days with interviews with Captain Johnny Casey and Manager Adrian Moran
Throw-in on Sunday is 2pm and all support would be very much appreciated. There will be live updates on Shannonside-Northern Sound, and on the Longford GAA twitter page.