Mickey Quinn: Longford's heavy defeats to Dublin have had a lasting effect

Dublin bid for a 13th consecutive Delaney Cup title this weekend, and the past decade has seen the other Leinster counties endure some tough days in the province.

Between 2013 and 2022, only once did a team suffer a single-digit losing margin against the Dubs in the Leinster Championship.

Although the sky blue machine has rumbled on after those games, they have had a lasting impact on the defeated teams. Longford's last outing against the capital side came in 2018, when they lost 2-25 to 0-12 against Jim Gavin's side.

Mickey Quinn feels that such defeats have left scars, leaving players pondering their future with the team in the aftermath.

"Some of those games against Dublin, I don't know what our track record is the following year. But the drop-off rate the following year, guys thinking 'hang on a minute, is it worth hanging around for that?'" he said.

"Everything that builds up to those Dublin games, that there's loads of people interested in it. There's probably a bit more publicity than other games. It's building up to it and it's set up nicely. But it's set up for the fall inevitably that happens, and that's the knock-on effect for the next six weeks after, the next year after that guys drift away, like 'Is it worth hanging on? Being on a county squad for that? Is that what you're training for?'"

And he feels the introduction of the Tailteann Cup can offer teams more purpose.

"That's what you hope the Tailteann Cup, that it's a competition that realistically, every guy [in the competition] believes that it's something that they can win, whether it's this year or next year," he said.

"Sam Maguire, even the provincials, aren't exactly that at the moment. It's a step in the right direction, and I think with a few tweaks here and there, it's something that can close the gaps.

"Obviously there's massive gaps in the tiers from the top two or three [teams], and then Division 2 and Division 3 is a big gap too. Can that help to close the gap and improve counties? And obviously counties have to get their own house in order too. But I hope it's something that should and does help."

Quinn feels that the competition can be of real value to Longford in the coming years.

"It's knockout. But going forward next year with that round-robin, playing games is something where you can develop. And games that you can hang your hat on it that you're building," he said.

"So we'll be hoping to try and get that going and develop lads. It's a competition that, however number of years that I'm going to be left playing, I'd love to be able to walk up the steps of Croke Park and lift the competition that's meaningful for me and meaningful for Longford, that you can say that 'right, the following year you can go and develop'.

"That it's not going from a year-to-year structure. And it's not like what counties like ourselves have been like in the past. It's just fallen from year to year to year. Whereas now you can start talking about a two, three-year plan: 'OK, let's go after the Tailteann Cup, let's go after the Division 3, if we get promoted, we can push on the following year in Division 2 or the Sam Maguire qualifiers or whatever'.

"And maybe that can help. Obviously there's little tweaks that will come out that need to be made to help that. But any improvement to some of the results that have happened to probably myself and Longford and other teams in the past, to promote development is what I'd love to see, and I'm hoping to see in the next few years."