The biggest upset of Championship 2016 took place in Clones on Saturday evening.
Longford went toe-to-toe with Monaghan - on their home patch - and emerged victorious. A Robbie Smyth goals nine minutes from the end of normal separated the teams at the final whistle. The scoreline: Monagahan 1:13 Longford 2:13.
This was, to be fair, a Monaghan side playing their third game in 14 days. Two weeks ago, they drew with Donegal in the Ulster semi-final. A week later they would fall by a point to Rory Gallagher's team. There's no doubt that the close proximity of the games left Monaghan vulnerable. But still, no one really expected Longford to overturn last year's Ulster champions.
Longford should be known as Kings of the Qualifiers - well round one, certainly. A fortnight previous, Longford - on the same day Monaghan drew with Donegal - beat Down in Newry. It was their eight consecutive round one qualifier win - a record we've addressed before.
Kings of June they might be, but Monaghan really looked a step too far for Longford. They surely would not have the gas to outlast Malachy O'Rourke's team. That extra bit of fuel which got them over the line may have been provided by the Irish Times.
In their preview of this weekend's qualifiers Longford were completely written off. Fodder for Conor McManus and Co as they prepared for the latter stages of the Championship.
It was something spotted by RTE's - and Longford's - Sinead Hussey.
If you're a GAA manager in need of getting that extra little bit our of your team - like Denis Connerton - this was some weapons grade dressing room wall material.
If there was ever motivation needed...good luck to Denis and @OfficialLDGAA today. #GAA pic.twitter.com/YOXDHnQVo0
— Sinéad Hussey (@SineadHus) July 9, 2016
