Longford - Sport

Sport

The town has a wide range of sports clubs and facilities including the Gaelic Athletic Association, rugby and tennis clubs, a League Of Ireland soccer club, two indoor swimming pools, an extensive gym and an 18-hole golf course. A new swimming pool was opened in Longford in 2007.

The sport with most support in County Longford is Gaelic football. The headquarters of the Longford Gaelic Athletic Association is located in Pearse Park in Longford Town, with a ground capacity of around 11,000. The Longford Gaelic football team has been relatively unsuccessful at national level, in large part reflecting the county's small population size - although it succeeded in winning a Leinster title at Senior level in 1968 and a National League title in 1966. The minor (under-18) Longford county team won the Leinster title in 2002, and recently in 2010, and their teams at under-21 level have reached several Leinster finals over the last few years (including 2006). The major boys' secondary school in Longford town, St. Mel's College, also has a long tradition in secondary schools' football (known as Colleges A), winning 29 Leinster and 4 All-Ireland titles (in the Hogan Cup). At one stage, St. Mel's College had won more Leinster titles than all of the other Leinster colleges put together. The main local GAA Club in Longford is Longford Slashers, based in Longford town, who have won more Senior County Championships than any other team in the county with their most recent success coming in 2010.

Longford County boasted arguably the best Gaelic football team which did not win the Sam Maguire Cup in 1968. The team was narrowly beaten by Kerry in the all-Ireland Semi final. The recently-deceased T.D. John Wilson and G.A.A. all-Ireland medalist (with County Cavan) starred with St. Mel's College Gaelic football team. St. Mel's also boasted a cricket team which wore all black rig. St. Mel's holds the peculiar distinction: in the 1966/67 season it held two teams scoreless in Gaelic football. This feat has never been equalled by any other Gaelic football team in history.

Longford Hurling team struggle to compete with the bigger counties as they only have 3 Hurling teams in the county, Slashers, Wolfe Tones and Clonguish. The county team won the National League Division 3 title in 2002, In 2005 & 2006 they won the Leinster Shield. After been relegated to Division 4 last season, they reached the Lory Meagher Cup Final in Croke Park on July 3, 2010 and won on a score line of Longford 1 - 20 to Donegal 1 - 12. They were also beaten in the Division 4 Final by Monaghain.

Longford town itself has a strong tradition in soccer, the game being introduced in the late 19th century. The town was a military base garrison during British rule. Longford Town football club was founded in 1924 and was elected to the League of Ireland in 1984. The first Longford town football club team to play in the League of Ireland featured Jimmy Savage, Zac Hackett and Liam Madden. In the 1950s and 60s, Longford boasted such players as Willie Browne (UCD and Bohemian FC) who won 3 full international Republic of Ireland caps and captained Bohemian FC for 3 consecutive seasons, he made 177 appearances for Bohs in all competitions scoring 20 goals, Lal Donlon (Longford town and Arsenal), Mel 'Garrincha' Mulligan, John 'Hooky' O'Connor and the legendary Billy Clarke. Billy Clarke is arguably Longford's most famous football player to date. The Longford Town football club ground is at Flancare Park, in the townland of Mullolagher, to the west of the town, on the Strokestown Road. Previously, the club was based in the north of Abbeycarton town. The Longford Town football club has had notable success in recent years, twice winning the FAI Cup, in 2003 and 2004, and competing in the UEFA Cup as a result against Bulgarian, Liechtenstein and Welsh opposition, though without success.

For golfers, Longford has an extensive parkland course. Also within a 50 km (30 mi) radius of the county, one can play quality championship courses such as the Nick Faldo-designed Lough Rynn, Glassan and the Slieve Russell.

Longford is represented in basketball by two clubs. Torpedo's were formed in 1973 and have competed in the Meath, Cavan, Mid-lands and National leagues. The club have been very successful over the years and recently represented Longford in the Flanders Basketball Tournament in Ghent, Belgium. They now play in the Shannon Side League in Mens and North East League in Ladies. Ladies and Men's teams play home games in Edworthstown. They hold an annual tournament at the end September start of October each season with 16 teams from all over ireland and the uk entering. The second club which was a break away unit of the Torpedo's are Longford Falcons. The club has had numerous Leinster and national titles won at the junior level. The club is based at the Mall Sports Complex, in the east of the town.

Longford town also hosts rugby club, Longford RFC whose grounds are located at Demesne, in the north of the town, and who participate in the Leinster League.

Longford has an extensive mall sports complex. The complex contains a swimming pool, gym, both indoor and outdoor football and basketball grounds and there is also new outdoor gym equipment all around the mall. The Mall itself is a popular walking spot in the town, a lap of which is approximately 2 km.