LEINSTER SFC: Ian O'Riordan talks to Longford manager Denis Connerton ahead of their game against Carlow
It's said even the best laid plans can go astray and that's the feeling now with Longford football. Early in the league campaign - fresh from wins over Kerry and Westmeath - they planned a training week in Cyprus to cap off their best ever championship preparations. Retain their Division One status, get some sun, and hit Carlow on Sunday with self-belief high.
Bit by bit that plan fell apart. For the third-round meeting with All-Ireland champions Tyrone, 10,000 showed up at Pearse Park, and Longford lost by 15 points. Four matches later they were still without another win and ended bottom of Division One A.
Cyprus beckoned nonetheless but rising forward David Barden was unable to travel. While his team-mates were away he played in a local tournament, the result of which has left him facing a 48-week suspension for reportedly striking an official.
That case will be contested next week but ahead of Sunday's meeting with Carlow in Tullamore the absentee list has continued to expand. First-choice centre-back David Blessington tore knee ligaments and is out for the season. Second-choice Martin Mulleady is on honeymoon. Forward Niall Sheridan has a thigh muscle injury and his place at full forward has been left vacant.
"No, this is not ideal at all," concedes manager Denis Connerton. "Especially for a county like Longford and the amount of resources we have. And so few of our minors come through we're always stuck for numbers."
Yet despite the setbacks Connerton remains sanguine. The week in Cyprus, coming immediately after the final league game Dublin, was constructive and only one player - wing forward Paul O'Hara - is making a championship debut on Sunday.
"We're still going into this as positive as we can. We were very disappointed not to retain our Division One status, because we've worked so hard to achieve it. But we know we didn't play well enough in all our matches.
"Against Dublin the last day we could have done something, but we just weren't able to get a result. We hit 10 wides and they only hit three, and we lost by three points. In the other games that we lost we honestly didn't do enough to deserve anything.
"Still we thought we had a well settled defence when we played Dublin. But since that day we've lost a few players that aren't easily replaced. From playing in Division One I found it unreal some of the squads that opposing teams had available to them, and the kind of players they could bring in as substitutes. It left me very envious at times."
It's tempting to trace Longford's problems to that heavy defeat to Tyrone, and Connerton partly agrees: "I still feel we played well in the first half that day. We made a few mistakes in the second half and they punished us straight away. Severely. But our league in general was punctuated by mistakes.
"That's one of the thing we learned by playing at the highest level, that you'll always be punished for them."
There is some consolation in that opponents' Carlow have hardly been setting the football world on fire, and the fall-out from the resignation of manager Mick Condon has left an extra cloud of uncertainty. Yet Connerton seems fully aware of what to expect.
"I think it's actually all worked out quite positively for them. They started the year on a high by beating Dublin and were very good against Westmeath in the O'Byrne Cup. They also came very close to beating Offaly in the league, who ended up Division One champions.
"Things got a bit sticky when London beat them and that seemed to start the fall-out, but Luke Dempsey has come in and knows the scene well there and has loads of experience. So the only way I see their team going is up. But this is definitely a 50-50 game. We know that whichever team performs on the day will win. There won't be that much between us."
For Sunday then, David Hannify takes over at centre back and if Sheridan comes through a late fitness test he'll start at full forward. Otherwise Connerton will start scraping the barrel.
LONGFORD (SF v Carlow): G Tonra; D Ledwith, C Conefrey, S Carroll, E Ledwith, D Hannify, A O'Connor; L Keenan, T Smullen; P O'Hara, J Kenny, P Barden; J Martin, AN Other, P Davis.
