By John Harrington

How St. Columba’s, Mullinalaghta celebrated their first Longford senior county title in 66 years tells you a lot about the sort of club they are.

Rather than immediately bring the Connolly Cup to the nearest pub to fill it, the players instead took it to Mullinalaghta Graveyard as a tribute to the club-men who last won it in 1950.

There are no living survivors of that team, and at a Mass for deceased members of the club the night before the County Final, the current players made a promise they’d honour their memory by bringing the Cup to their final resting place if they won it.

“Straight after the game one of the players rang the priest and asked would he meet them there to say a little prayer when they'd be going by,” says team manger Mickey Graham.

“It was a nice touch and a lot of the locals and families of those deceased members were all there. A lot of the lads who are playing now would have had grandfathers and uncles and stuff who would have played on that team. It meant an awful lot to them.

“There was a lot of emotion there when it happened. After the graveyard then they wanted to see the local kids. The young kids had waited around for them. It was late when we got there.

“So they went into the community centre and let the kids see the cup. Photographs were taken and we all mingled with people and they weren't in a rush to get away from it.

“They gave their time and they mingled with people for a good hour in the community centre and there was a great atmosphere and kids got their photographs taken with players.

“It was a big thing for them too. Even the next day the lads went around all the local schools and brought the cup to a couple of elderly people who couldn't make the game.

“It was a whole community effort. You could see what it meant to them. It'll be talked about for many a generation afterwards, what they've achieved.”

If you’re starting to think that Mullinalaghta is a tight community, then you’re right.

That might have something to do with the fact that they’re a small island of their own in north Longford, bounded by Lough Gowna and the River Erne to the West and north, County Cavan to the east, and cut off from the rest of Longford by the River Clooneen to the south.

The area is made up of just 11 townslands in total, half of a parish that straddles the Cavan border, and has a population of little more than 400.

To win a county senior championship with such shallow resources is an incredible achievement, and wouldn’t have been possible were the team itself not a reflection of their community.  

“Yeah, that's their strength,” says Graham. “They're so tightly knit together, and there's great camaraderie there between the whole lot of them. They get on well. Nobody falls out with anybody even on the field. Somebody makes a mistake or something goes wrong, they're looking to fix it and offer encouragement.

“After a game they'll all go together to the local, there's only one pub in the place, and they'll all go for a drink there together and stay together as well and not go their different directions.

“There are no issues with training or lads missing training or lads going away on stags or weddings or things like that.

“It's either all or nothing with these boys. They're together on a WhatsApp group and if anyone can't make training they have to go up on the WhatsApp group and tell the lads why. It's usually a genuine, work-related or sickness excuse.

“I suppose that's been key this year. That in tight games when the going got tough, you could see that team-spirit and morale coming out in the end.

“Being such a small area, it really has brought them together as a unit and you can see it in the performances that they've put in this year so far.”

Considering just how big an achievement it was for Mullinalaghta to win a Longford county title for the first time in 66 years, you would have forgiven them if they struggled to get their feet back on the ground in time for the Leinster Club Championship.

Their players are clearly an ambitious as well as talented bunch though going by their highly impressive five point victory over Laois champions Stradbally in the first round of the provincial campaign.

“On the Friday night after the County Final we had a League game against Longford Slashers and that kind of brought us down to earth fairly quickly and got us back on the straight and narrow and kind of curbed the celebrations there and then,” says Graham.

“After the game we just sat down and said, look it, we find ourselves in a position now that a lot of teams would love to be in and we have to make a decision now are we going to give this a go or are we happy with what we have.

“A lot of the players said, 'Sure, look it, we might never experience this opportunity again, lets make the most of it'.

“I said to them they owed nobody anyone at this stage, but let’s just give it a rattle and see where we can end up.

“That's the way we approached it, and, in fairness to the players when we trained on the Sunday morning (after the match against Slashers) it was good a session as it was before the County Final.

“They were really biting at the bit and looking forward to the challenge. You've seen that in the performance they put in against Stradbally.”

Next up for the Mullinalaghta men is a Leinster quarter-final this Sunday against Westmeath champions St. Loman’s who boast inter-county players like John Heslin, Paul Sharry, and Shane Dempsey.

Graham describes the Westmeath outfit as “a serious step-up” for his team compared to anyone they’ve faced thus far this year, but everyone in their small enclave of north Longford is looking forward to the challenge.

“Yeah, there's a serious buzz, everyone's rocking around the place with a spring in their step and a smile on their face,” says Graham.

“I think even the supporters got a wee bit of a land the last day. They couldn't believe the performance the lads pulled out.

“I think they weren't expecting big things. And, in fairness, it was said afterwards that whatever happened now was a bonus. They were quietly surprised that we got over Stradbally.

“I suppose what surprised them most was the quality of performance the lads put in was one of the best of the year.

“The people are enjoying it. I know they're like the players, they're saying you don't know when this opportunity will come around again so they're making the most of it while they can.

“No matter what happens on Sunday, the supporters and families will be delighted with the year the team has given them.

“There will be no-one giving out or saying this, that or the other if they didn't get a result. They're just delighted with the enjoyment they've gotten out of them so far this year.”

All for one and one for all. It’s the Mullinalaghta way.