Barden and Longford turn their sights towards qualifiers

PAUL BARDEN was still nursing the raw disappointment of Longford’s Leinster SFC quarter-final replay defeat to Wexford on Sunday. Yesterday he was in Croke Park with Laois hurling captain, Willie Hyland, to accept the Opel-sponsored GAA/GPA player of the month awards for May, in their respective codes.

“We probably thought we did enough to win it. We had our chances so we’re very disappointed and have to regroup and see how we go in the qualifiers,” said Barden.

“We had chances on both days. The goal chances were really the killer. We were three points up and had a great goal chance to kill the game and just didn’t take it. You have days like that. We just have to regroup. We’ve put in a big effort this year not to have a go at the qualifiers. For the last number of years, we’ve done well. We’ve put in some big performances so we have to hopefully get a home draw and get up and running.”

His priority and that of his team-mates is to get back to winning ways. They were unbeaten this year going into the replay and won’t want the next game to be a full-stop in terms of their season.

Barden accepted that the ultimate barometer in terms of judging a team’s success is measured in championship victories.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work and I think we have to put a huge effort in for the qualifiers. We’re back in training on Friday night so we’ll see how the lads regroup from there. We were unbeaten up until Sunday and if you look at that game, it’s probably one we should have won. It’s hard to take. The lads are bitterly disappointed but I’m sure they’ll put the heads down and come back training.”

The draw takes place next weekend and Longford must recalibrate their ambition. Barden explained: “I think we’re good enough to get to a quarter-final, if you’re lucky enough with the draw. We’ll have to set out our targets but that’s something I think we can achieve.”

They’ll derive some comfort from a decent past record in the qualifiers over recent years.

“All those games came at home where we had those good performances in the qualifiers. You could get a real tough draw though. Armagh are in that draw now and you’ll have Donegal or Derry coming into it after next weekend. They’re the two toughest teams in it but other than that we won’t fear anyone.

“We’d be hoping for a home draw next week but if we don’t get it, it won’t bother us too much. We’ll just have to regroup and put in a big performance like we have been doing in the championship and the league games.”

He probably won’t watch Wexford’s Leinster semi-final against Dublin because it’ll just rekindle the disappointment. In his 13th year he’s never reached the Leinster semi-final, a statistic that’s extended after Sunday’s defeat. But who does he expect to win?

“It’s hard to know how it will pan out. They won’t fear Dublin but Dublin are on a high after winning last year’s All-Ireland. You saw them against Louth here last week; confidence is really high and their forwards are flying.

“Wexford might need to set up a bit differently at the back. They left a lot of room there in the last two games. But if they can tighten it up at the back, they will cause Dublin lots of trouble.”

For the cultured Longford forward he’ll be more preoccupied with matters closer to home.