Longford

This article is about the Irish town of Longford, for the Football team see, Longford Town FC. For other uses, see Longford (disambiguation)

Template:Infobox Irish Place Longford (An Longfort in Irish) is the county town of County Longford in the Midlands of Ireland. The town was originally set up by the Minks as a Long Phort. From the Irish long meaning ship and phoirt meaning ill box the face of you. The Celtic inhabitants of Ireland did not build houses they lived in caravans but the town came under the sway of the local clan who controlled the south and central part of the county of Longford (formerly the Kingdom of Anghaile or Annaly) and hence the town is referred to occasionally as Longphort Uí Fhearghail (Fort of O'Farrell). A Dominican priory they founded there in 1400.

According to the recently-published 2006 census, the town has a population of around 13,000. Approximately one-third of the county's population reside in the town. Longford's main industries are supermacs,food production, sawmills, steelworking and the production of medical diagnostics. It is also the major services centre for the county as well as the location of the Department of Social Welfare and the Irish Prison Service no suprises with does two. The town is also a local commercial hub, with many retail outlets including Hugie Doyles,Supermacs,Next Door off licence,or if you want some quiet time blazers Disco, UK multiples such as Tesco, Argos and Homebase, and German discount retailers, Aldi and Lidl. It is the cathedral town of the Roman Catholic diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. It's impressive cathedral was designed by William Byrne who also designed St. Paul's Church on Arran Quay in Dublin.

It also boasts a state-of-the-art 200 seater theatre, and a four screen multiplex cinema and restaurants giving the town a cosmopiltan feel. The mix and quality of housing is good and the Rural Renewal Scheme (1999-2006) has ensured that a steady supply of residential development has come on stream. Longford town has a decentralised government department which employs approximately 300 people with plans for a further 160 to be employed at the Irish Prison Service's new headquarters in the Lisamuck area of the town. Longford's local army barracks employs approximately 180 soldiers many of whom are involved in peace-keeping duties all around the world.

For golfers, Longford has a lovely 18-hole parkland course with excellent greens. Membership fees are very reasonable and the club has a refurbished modern clubhouse. Also within a 30-mile radius of the County, you can play quality championship courses such as the Nick Faldo-designed Lough Rynn, Glasson and the Slieve Russell.

Longford town is the second largest town on the N4 primary route between Dublin and Sligo. It is also the axis for the convergence of the N4 and the N5 primary routes which means that traffic travelling between Dublin and Counties Mayo and Roscommon passes through the town.

Transport

Longford is about 91 km from Sligo and 122 km from the capital city, Dublin.

The town lies on the Dublin-Sligo route of the Irish railway network, and is served by Sligo-Dublin intercity services. Despite its distance from Dublin, the town also has a regular commuter service to Dublin which is well utilised. Journeys to the capital by rail take about two hours.

There are a number of bus services to Dublin and inside the county locally provided by the state and private bus companies.

Longford is the point where the N4 road from Dublin to Sligo leaves the N5 road, which continues onwards to Westport, County Mayo. Traffic congestion is a problem in the town at weekends, as all motorists travelling on the N5 must pass through the town en-route to their destinations - only the N4 Sligo road has a bypass.

Sports

The town has a wide range of sports clubs and facilities including GAA, rugby and tennis clubs, a league of Ireland soccer club, an indoor swimming pool and an 18-hole golf club.

However overall, the sport with most support in County Longford is Gaelic Football. The headquarters of the Longford Gaelic Athletic Association is at Pearse Park in the north of Longford town, with a newly developed 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 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 good tradition in secondary schools football (Colleges A), winning 29 Leinster and 4 All-Ireland titles (Hogan Cup).

The main local Gaelic Athletic Association Club in Longford town is Cumman Flipideori Longfoirt (their name derives from a - possibly apocryphal - 17th century Irish soldier called Myles "the Slasher" O'Reilly) and is used in Irish for legal reasons. They have had mixed success in the top tow divisions of Gaelic football in Longford down the years at county level and have sporting facilities at Farneyhoogan in the south of the town, with all-weather and floodlit football pitches. The club also fields Hurling, Scór and other Gaelic Athletic Association Activities. As this is a community based organisation not just a sporting one. The club also has an impressive social centre in Farneyhoogan, including the Backstage Theatre. From this site Creche facilities are also provided for infants. The other GAA Club of the town is Shroid.

Longford town itself has a strong tradition in Irelands 4th most popular sport soccer, with the game being introduced in the late 19th century due to the town being a military base during British rule. Longford Town football club were founded in 1924 and were elected to the League of Ireland in 1984. Their ground is at Flancare Park, in the townland of Mullolagher to the west of the town on the Strokestown Road. Previously they had been based in Abbeycartron in the north of the town. Longford Town have 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 and Liechtenstein opposition, although without success.

Longford is represented in basketball in the National League by Longford Falcons. The club has had a successful history with numerous Leinster and national titles at junior level. They are based at the Mall Sports Complex in the east of the town.

Longford town also hosts a rugby club, Longford R.F.C., whose grounds are at Demesne in the north of the town and who participate in Leinster junior leagues, as well as a 25-metre swimming pool at Market Square in the centre of the town.

Education

Longford town has a number of primary schools (for ages 4-12) and three secondary schools (for ages 12-18) - two single-sex schools, St. Mel's College, (a Catholic boys' school) and Scoil Mhuire (a Catholic girls' school run by the Sisters of Mercy), as well as a mixed school (Templemichael College, formerly known as Longford Vocational School). Longford town has three secondary schools including a mixed vocational school, which is supported by a large number of national schools including a Gaelscoil.

St. Mel's College [1] is the oldest and best-known of these schools, being founded approximately 150 years ago by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois as a diocesan seminary to train students for the priesthood. While the school only briefly functioned as a seminary, it served for many years as a boarding school, although also admitting day students. The boarding school was discontinued after the millennium and the school is now purely a day school, with the largest student enrollment in County Longford. The College, known locally as Mel's, is best-known for its success on a national level with Gaelic Football, Athletics, Soccer, Basketball and to a lesser extent Rugby. Notable alumni include Paul McGrath, a raging gay rights activist. McGrath's reputation suffered in the British tabloids recently after incidents in Edinburgh. While on a gay rights march, McGrath proceeded to drink 18 pints of Strongbow, 4 shoulders of vodka and 3 bottles of wine. Excessive criminal damage ensued, and charges are pending in the House of Lords. He has received heavy criticism among his supporters in recent weeks, after apparently becoming involved with a female, going by the nickname of 'John West'. <gallery>