The late Seamus Flynn was a shining light for Longford GAA

Lanesboro native Sinead Farrell, a Sports Journalist with the42.ie, recalling an interview for RTE with the late, great Seamus Flynn in the past.  

Longford GAA experienced a significant turning point in 1964. History might record things differently and place a bigger emphasis on the county's first ever National League and Leinster titles that followed in 1966 and 1968 respectively, but this was the year that the foundations for those successes were laid. 

The senior footballers had just been dumped out of the first round of the Leinster championship by Westmeath, which, in an era that predated qualifiers and second chances, meant their campaign was over.

That result came just four years after Longford found themselves on the receiving end of a 10-13 to 3-8 drubbing in Mullingar, which was also in the first round of the Leinster championship.

The players were fed up with early exits from competitions and could sense that there was potential within the squad to compete for major titles. But they felt their efforts weren't being facilitated properly by the higher powers in the county board.

Seamus Flynn was a key player on that Longford team and he recalls how the team mobilised itself to demand better treatment, which resulted in the appointment of three-time All-Ireland winner Mick Higgins from Cavan as the new Longford boss.

"The players got a bit upset," he tells RTÉ Sport.

"We had a bit of discussions or arguments with people at the top and that's what developed into bringing in Mick Higgins.

"There was dissatisfaction among the players because we were only called into training about a week before that first round of the Leinster championship. That certainly wasn't good preparation for a championship game.

"Players were annoyed over the effort that was put in at county board level. We all contributed to it about our dissatisfaction, we all had a comment to make but everyone was in agreement that we weren't getting a fair crack of the whip."

Along with the recruitment of Higgins, Longford also added Fr Phil McGee to the coaching team, a brother of the prominent sports journalist Eugene, who was in charge of the Offaly footballers that famously halted Kerry's drive for five All-Irelands in-a-row in 1982.

Flynn explains that the pair focused their energies on improving the organisation of the team, which in turn led to better preparation for matches. Higgins' experience along with his haul of All-Ireland medals also ensured that the players respected him and his methods.

He was still linked with the Cavan footballers during his spell with Longford, and when the teams clashed in a game in Carrick-On-Shannon, Higgins parked his loyalties to Longford to patrol the sideline for his native county.

According to Flynn, Higgins got a bit 'high' when some of the refereeing decisions didn't go his way, but any contentious incidents from that match were put aside at the next Longford training session.

"There was a bit of craic alright," he laughs.

"It was all taken in good spirits and Mick was well able for it, no matter what kind of a slagging he got. He always had an answer for it. He was a gentleman in many ways but he was hot-headed and fiery when it came to football."

Longford's fortunes improved considerably the following year and they went on to contest their first ever senior Leinster final against Dublin. Flynn believes that Longford could possibly have gone on to enjoy even more success had they prevailed that day.

They were breaking new ground, and prior to the start of that campaign the team agreed to fully immerse themselves in training, although they had to break the rules in order to do it.

"Before the Leinster championship in 1965," Flynn remembers, "we all took a week off work and we trained, which was supposed to be illegal at that time but it was all under closed doors no-one knew about it. It was called collective training. It was supposed to be barred at the time but we didn't say anything about it.

"We got paid from our job for annual leave and that was the commitment that was made. It was a fairly stiff commitment. I think everybody was there for it.

"The fact that we were moving well and we were given every opportunity."

Longford landed their first significant title in 1966 when they won the National League after defeating a Galway side who were seeking a third successive All-Ireland crown that year.

The structure of the league was slightly different in those times however, and Longford were later required to play New York over two legs in a separate final in order to secure the title. The second of those legs was played in Croke Park.

But it was the victory over Galway that was the more significant result given the pedigree of the opposition, and the team had the support of the entire county behind them.

"There was practically nobody left in the county," says Flynn, "Everybody was up for it. The reception we got was out of this world and we travelled in on the Glennon Brothers lorry. People were just overcome with joy and crying with glee. Longford town was jammed with people on our way down.

"I don't know did it register with us for a while, what we had achieved, which was something that never happened in the county before. It sunk in later because there were people coming and congratulating you no matter where you went. Everyone around you all wanted to talk about the game and it's only then that you realise what it meant to the people of Longford.

"It was only a couple of weeks after that it really sunk in that it brought so much joy to the people."

Flynn often travelled to Longford training along with fellow defender John Donlon of the Newtowncashel club, who first joined the senior panel in 1964. They also did their own training together on nights off from the collective sessions.

Donlon left school at a young age to take over the family farm, and on the evenings when he paired up with Flynn to do some running and other drills, there was plenty of space to cover in the fields surrounding them.

Drinking bans didn't exist in those times and players were trusted to socialise within their own limits. If they did converge on a local pub for a few pints after training, both Flynn and Donlon arranged to meet up for training the next night to rid themselves of the toxins.

After clinching the National League title in 1966, Longford failed to maximise that momentum in the Leinster championship, crashing out to Louth in the first round. Many people felt however, that the game should have been postponed due to an apparently waterlogged pitch.

"There was no need to play it so soon after the league final" says Flynn. "There was panic on it because Louth didn't have to go out for another four or five weeks after that. You'd have to say that probably the same thing is going on still. 

"There's not much regard for the small counties and the way things are changing with Super 8s and all the rest, it's all geared towards the big counties and the strong counties."

Longford reached the Leinster semi-final the following year but they would have to wait until 1968 before winning what remains to be Longford's only ever senior Leinster crown.

Their journey to the summit of the provincial competition that year started out with a clash against Dublin in Tullamore.

Mick Higgins' charges came through that fixture with a three-point win thanks to a decisive goal from a Jackie Devine penalty.

The reigning Leinster and All-Ireland champions Meath awaited Longford in the semi-final, but they too crumbled under the weight of the relentless midlanders, who powered through to the decider against Laois.

It was a comprehensive 11-point win in the end for Longford, with the final scoreline reading 3-9 to 1-4.

Crowd invasions at the final whistle were a common sight during those years. Flynn  enjoyed that element of the game and how it integrated spectators into the celebrations.

"The first person that threw their arms around me at the final whistle was my sister and she came out of nowhere. She jumped up on top of me to congratulate me and I was hit harder than I was during the game.

"There was a huge turnout, much the same as the league final. I think everyone felt fairly confident that we were going to do it. We were playing well.

"It's a huge occasion to play up there [in Croke Park]. You feel great, even at that time it was a terrific stadium."

Longford had little time to savour the win as they were facing into an All-Ireland semi-final two weeks later against a Kerry team who featured football legends such as Mick O'Connell and Mick O'Dwyer.

In addition to having little time to fully recover and prepare for that crunch game, Longford suffered some crucial injuries in the Leinster final. Midfielder Jimmy Flynn was ruled out, and he was deemed to be a match for the all-conquering Mick O'Connell.

They also lost Séan Murray to an ankle injury, who was a big loss to the Longford attack. Coming from a county with a small population, Longford simply did not have a sufficient depth in the panel to deal with situations like this.

Their chances suffered a further setback when Murray's replacement Pat Burke dislocated his elbow with the first ball that was delivered into him against the Kingdom.

As expected, Longford struggled to match Kerry's challenge in the first half and trailed the Munster side 2-7 to 0-6 at the break.

Longford responded emphatically after the restart and cut the deficit to two points before they were awarded a penalty. Devine converted the spot kick to nudge Longford into a one-point lead but Longford's attempts to revive their challenge left them exhausted and Kerry finished out the game as two-point victors.

Flynn was delegated the unenviable task of tracking Mick O'Dwyer's movements that day, and the one point he did cough up to the Waterville legend haunted him for a while after.

"I was playing on Mick O'Dwyer, he got a point and I didn't sleep well for a month after it. He was a top-scorer in the country for a few years around that time.

"He was a good, strong, physical player but he accepted if it was a hard-hitting game. He never complained and was a gentleman on the field really.

"He was a very accurate kicker of the ball and if he got an opportunity he'd score and he got the one that day and he put it over the bar."

That turned out to be Longford's last senior All-Ireland semi-final appearance, and they were dethroned as Leinster champions in their opening round in 1969, following a defeat to Wexford.

Bowing out to Kerry on such a narrow margin is no shameful memory for those players to carry, but they knew at the time that they could have won the game.