THE MULLINALAGHTA FOOTBALLERS don’t use a team bus to get to matches.
Travelling in groups by car is their preferred mode of transport and always has been. They’ve had offers from a local bus company but they politely declined.
Even an occasion as historic as their recent Leinster final against Dublin champions Kilmacud Crokes couldn’t influence them to make a change. They just prefer to do things their own way.
And so they piled into their cars as usual and made the short trip to O’Connor Park in Tullamore for the biggest game of their lives so far.
It was only when they were coming home as the first Longford club to win a senior Leinster crown that they jumped on a bus for part of the homecoming across the Cavan border into the neighbouring town of Gowna.
”When we were on our way home, we got a phonecall to say that the Gardaí had offered to give us an escort through Edgeworthstown and through Granard and down to Mullinalaghta,” club chairman John Keegan explains to The42.
“We gladly accepted that so all the cars with the players and supporters lined up behind the two Garda cars and they gave us an escort to Mullinalaghta and onto Gowna. The lads left their cars in Mullinalaghta and got the bus to Gowna.
And when we reached Gowna, the people there had the first bonfire lit and there were great celebrations.”
Mullinalaghta are currently three-in-a-row champions in Longford but that perceived dominance belies the barren years that preceded their recent glory.
Prior to winning the first of those three consecutive crowns in 2016, they had been waiting 66 years for senior success in the county.
They had managed to reach the Longford decider two years previously but lost out to Killoe.
Keegan argues that Mullinalaghta lost that tie ‘purely through inexperience’ as well as possible confidence issues in the face of a more established outfit.
So when Mullinalaghta finally got over the line in 2016, the players came up with an idea to pay tribute to the players and people of their homeland who suffered through the famine years since their last county crown in 1950.
“It surprised me [at the time], nobody suggested it to them,” says Keegan.
The lads just asked that we stop at the graveyard and that we would pay our respects to the people who had gone before us who succeeded in 1948 and 1950, but also the people who played in the intervening years and didn’t have any success.
“They did it after winning the senior championship in 2017 and 2018.”
And they carried that tradition on after they stunned Kilmacud in O’Connor Park earlier this month to become the 2018 provincial champions.
“The lads had their meal and then the bus took them back to the cemetery where they go every time just to show a little bit of respect to the families that went before them.
Not alone the people who won [the county title] in 1948 and 1950, but the people who kept the club alive and played all through the years and didn’t have any success.
“The players are met by two priests, sometimes three priests. They would say a prayer and light a candle and give each family a candle to bring to their grave and say a prayer.
It’s an emotional moment and a solitary moment.”
Keegan credits team manager Mickey Graham with correcting the confidence problems they had. He transformed them into a team who believed they could compete.
The Cavan Gaels club man first came on board in 2016 and his appointment was a straight-forward process.
Keegan was aware of his strength as a coach having watched him manage fellow Longford side Clonguish and he offered him the Mullinalaghta job over a cup of coffee.
It’s safe to say that the arrangement is working out so far for both parties.
There will be challenging days ahead in 2019 when Graham takes over as the new Cavan manager but he has been able to commit to both projects so far, with training sessions being arranged so that there are no clashes.
“We would have seen improvements starting to show halfway through his first year,” Keegan remarks about Graham’s impact on the team.
“It was more evident in his second or third year but we wouldn’t have thought we were at a point where we could win a Leinster final.
“We wanted one senior title in Longford but when we did that, the lads had the know-how to go and win a second and then go for three-in-a-row. The hunger was still there. Even at that point, we wouldn’t have said we were going to win a Leinster.
“We would have thought it was great to be in a Leinster campaign. We beat Rhode [Leinster quarter-final], which was a tough match. Then we beat Éire Óg [semi-final].
“To qualify for a Leinster final was an achievement in itself but we knew we were making history so we thought we had nothing to lose and to throw the kitchen sink at them.
We were hopeful we were going to beat them but I wouldn’t say we were confident.”
With Dublin All-Ireland winners Cian O’Sullivan and Paul Mannion in their line-up, Kilmacud Crokes were always going to be considered the favourites heading into that Leinster final.
And after hitting a goal inside the opening four minutes, it looked like they might go onto dominate proceedings in O’Connor Park against the Longford contenders.
It had the look of a familiar script.
But Mullinalaghta would not be denied, with Gary Rogers slotting home a late penalty to give them the advantage at a crucial stage in the game before Aidan McElligott tagged on the insurance point to secure an incredible victory.
John has a son by the same name playing in midfield for Mullinalaghta, and it took a bit of time to locate him on the pitch after the final whistle such were the chaotic scenes of joy.
“I was mobbed by everybody congratulating me,” Keegan recalls. “They were great scenes of joy and tears of joy really.
“I’d say I was on the pitch 10 minutes before I found John. When I got as far as him, I kind of had to join the queue to congratulate him.
It was unbelievable, and to some extent still is. We still pinch ourselves and ask if it’s real. It’s a great lift for the club, county and every small club in the country really.
“Even when the team went up to accept the cup, the crowd remained on the field. And even after the speech was over, the spectators were still on the pitch and were probably there for an hour.
Nobody wanted to leave. It was such an occasion, we wanted to soak up every moment and enjoy it. Everybody in the parish was out there and in fairness to every club was represented in the county [at the game]. Everyone was congratulating us.
Unsurprisingly, there were unprecedented celebrations in Mullinalaghta on the night they returned home with the Leinster trophy.
RTÉ cameras were pitched up to capture their glorious return while droves of supporters lined the streets with festivities lasting long into the night.
It was a lot to handle for the half-parish with a population of just under 450 people and Keegan admits he didn’t know most of the people he came across that evening.
“We had the Longford Pipe Band who led the team to the bonfire in Mullinalaghta. They went out to the community centre with the team and they posed for photographs with the youngsters.
“We felt it was appropriate for the youngsters to get photographs with the team without having to go near a pub. To get all that done and let them go off to bed to be up the next morning.
In fairness, the lads gave their time generously because they were probably there for an hour and-a-half. Everybody got their photograph, the Longford Pipe band were there and it was a lovely social occasion.
“Because we only have the one pub, sure honest to God, you couldn’t get in the door. At my age, there’s only so much battling against the young crowds that you can actually do.
“I adjourned about 1 o’clock and I know it went on long after that but it wouldn’t be my scene.
“If I can’t sit down and have a quiet pint, I’d prefer to be at home to be honest with you.”
Mullinalaghta had been performing well in Leinster since making the breakthrough in Longford, but their achievement in the provincial final was still an exceptional feat.
Not only were they the first Longford club to reach the senior decider, they won it at the first time of asking and the scale of their success was duly recognised both inside and outside sporting circles.
They were guests on the Late Late Show while several other people have reached out to them to applaud them for their efforts. They have become a beacon of hope for all rural GAA clubs who feared that they could no longer compete with the urban based sides.
Mullinalaghta even received messages of congratulations from both President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
“Even though the pub celebrations have stopped there’s still a buzz around the place and there’s a great expectation. There’s a great feeling of goodwill towards football.
“We’re still getting post and cards from far away [from people who] didn’t know anyone in the club but just wanted to say how much it lifted their spirits and how much they appreciate what is being done.
We’ve got a lot of those and we’ve got a lot of people from Donegal and places like that that have sent us cheques. It was just a small gesture of goodwill towards the club and to say the best of luck in the next round.”
“It doesn’t sit that easy with us [the fame]. We don’t feel like we’re celebrities and we don’t feel like RTÉ cameras are our place in life.
'Celebrations continue in Mullinalaghta as @gaaleinster final victory sinks in, reports @MartyM_RTE #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/7hAtHbMsy2
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) December 10, 2018
“We felt that when the offer was there and the lads had achieved as much as they did, that it was right to give them the exposure.
But if you’re asking if anybody was comfortable with the television cameras, probably not.”
“It’s just because of the buzz created by the media. We never dreamt that participating in or winning a Leinster final was ever going to be as big an issue as what it is.”
Much has been remarked about the fact that Mullinalaghta club is situated in a rural part of north Longford and boasts a membership of just 155 people.
Some of the local shops and businesses have closed down in a difficult economic climate but the club has survived to retain the services of its best players.
Several members of the panel are based away from home and regularly commute long distances for training, including defender Conan Brady who travels across the water from Leeds to serve his club.
But while this successful Mullinalaghta group has managed to stay together despite the long journeys they face, the club struggled to keep their players in the past.
Throughout the 80′s, we were decimated with players. Half the lads that should have been playing with us were in New York or Canada or Australia. They were all over the place and we lost an awful lot of players and potential players to emigration.
“We just managed it this time to have a group of guys who come back and give the commitment to the training and stick to the task.
“It’s great to see them put in such an effort and it’s not easy on a Wednesday night at this time of year to leave Dublin and spend two-and-a-half hours driving.”
Mullinalaghta will be hoping that their fairytale journey will continue when the competition resumes in the new year.
An All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry and Munster champions Dr Crokes awaits them in February at Semple Stadium, a venue more commonly associated with hurling rather than football.
And aside from a few of Mullinalaghta’s players who have lined out there before while on duty with Longford, it will be a unique experience for most of the team.
But this is all new territory for Mullinalaghta. From the minute they booked their spot in the Leinster final, this became a whole new journey for them and now can look forward to measuring themselves against the 2017 All-Ireland champions.
Keegan concedes that “it would be no shame” to bow out to Dr Crokes, but that win over Kilmacud makes Mullinalaghta a formidable prospect for All-Ireland glory now.
In any case, they have timeless memories of an incredible campaign to look back on and a Leinster title to savour.
“When the Mullinalaghta team went out on the pitch at the start of the game and the start of the second half the shout that went up was twice or three times the volume of what Kilmacud raised.
“So for the minnows from a small county, we actually generated more vocal support than Kilmacud.”
Every one of the players is homegrown. We don’t have anyone coming in from outside. Everyone is from Mullinalaghta and there’s great pride in that.”
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