Come On De Town!!!!!
Congratulations, Alan!!
We are the boys in Fifth and Sixth Class. We think Longford Town are the best. We go to all the matches. Sometimes we are Ball boys for the games. We get to meet the players.
Longford Town Football Club was founded in 1924. The first manager was a Dublin man. His name is Charlie walker.The colours of the jerseys are black and red. The borrowed the jerseys from Bohemians in the early twenties. This is why Bohemians and Longford wear the same colours. Town kept the colors to this day. The crest on the jerseys is St Mel's Cathedral.
The team used to play on an old pitch, known as the Fair Ground, which is now the Greyhound Racing Track. They moved to Abbeycartron in Longford and then moved out to Flancare Park in 1999. Flancare Park's nickname is Flancaro. There are 6000 seats in Flancare Park. There are very nice dressing rooms and they are building a Function Room, which should be finished around next July.
They played in the UEFA cup in 2001. Their opponents were FC Lovech of Bulgaria but they were beaten 2 - 1. This year 2003 they won their first ever-senior trophy the FAI cup.
Longford Town entered the League of Ireland Senior in the early 80's, but was unable to compete at such a high level of football. Taking on the great Shamrock Rovers in the 80's was too much to ask. When the first division was formed they spent many seasons rooted to the bottom of it. Billy Baggier, Dermot Kelly to name bid a few, all tried but failed to turn the club around but failed.
Local lad and town legend Pat 'Zac' Hackett, player- turned- manager bought some local lads and Athlone Lads. Some great locals such as David Flaherty, Less Devin, Mark Devlin and Athlone natives Johnny Morris Burkes, and Frank Thompson brought the club to it's first FAI cup semi final while they entertained Derry city.
Then came the turning point in the club's long history, the arrival of Stephen Kenny: Stephen an unknown member at the time was a timely gamble for the town to take, but taking it worked. In only the second season as manager, he guided the town back into big time. In the season 2000-01 Kenny brought his team to a FAI cup final, which they lost 1-0 to Bohs. Kenny later moved back to Dublin to manage Bohs. Martin Lawlor took charge but only lasted one season.
Alan Matthews, who had played with Shamrock Rovers, Saint Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne and Longford town, replaced Lawlor. He was assistant manager to Dermot Keely at Shelbourne. Matthews steered the club to a firm place in his first season. This year the town reached their second FAI Cup Final when they beat St. Pat's 2-0. Also reaching Europe for a second time in the class history. Longford man Mickey Reilly and Legan man Donald Keogh over the years they have made Longford the pride of the midlands and now the pride of Ireland.
The Long And Winding Road To FAI Success.
by Gerard Butler.
The first match in the FAI Cup was against Tolka Rovers. The score was 4/1 to Longford. The goal scorers for the town were Alan Kirby, Brian Byrne, Shane Barrette and an OG.
Then came Limerick. It was in Flancare Park. Longford won with two goals from Shane Barrett.
Then it was Qtr.Final against Waterford UTD. The score was 3/1 to the Town. Scorers were two from Sean Francis and one from Brian Mc Govern.
Then it was the Semi Final in Flancare Park. Hopes were starting to rise. It was Galway UTD that was in the way of Longford going to the final. The score was 1/0 scored by Sean Francis. Longford had made it to the final!
Then it was the final. All the flags were up. All the tickets were bought. All the VCR's were set. The buses filled up. Noel Nolan headed off in the limo.
Kick off came. Out they went on the pitch. No one knew who was going to win, but Longford hopes were high. There was lots of chances but then Sean Prunty put the ball in the box. Francis scored. At half-time the Town went in one up. So at half-time everyone had their bar at the match or their cup of tea at home.
It was on again and the pressure was on Pat's. There were lots of scoring chances but the last few minutes came and Pat's got a corner. The goalkeeper came down. It came in and Eric Lavine got the ball and ran down the field but a Pat's player got the ball and Pat's got a corner again. The goalkeeper came down the field again. The ball came in but the Town kicked it down the field and Shane Barrett ran it into the goal. The town had scored. That was it. Longford Town had won the FAI Cup!
Then Barry Ferguson was presented with the cup and Longford town were the FAI champions! They had a big celebration in the town. We all saw the cup and ………….. that is the long and winding road to Longford's FAI success.