Player Interview

Interview with our new signing, Chris Mulhall

Wed Nov 22nd 2017

INTERVIEW BY ANDREW DEMPSEY | LTFC.ie

Having swapped United Park for the City Calling Stadium last week, Chris Mulhall got talking on the phone with Andrew Dempsey for LTFC.ie, where the former Limerick FC man was discussing his move to De Town, his hopes for the season ahead and his thoughts on the new structure of the First Division in 2018.

Speaking on why he decided to join Longford Town, Mulhall revealed that he was quite close to joining up with Neale Fenn and Longford Town during the summer transfer window when he made the decision to part ways with Limerick in July.  He also added that Fenn’s footballing philosophy played a role in his decision.

“I was close to signing for the club when I was looking to get out of Limerick. Neale rang me in the summer transfer window and it was close to happening then. I’ve heard good things about Neale’s football and how he likes to play, and I think that football is probably the best for me.”

“The only reason I didn’t join in the summer was that I wanted to stay in the premier at the time and try to get myself a few goals and what not. The challenge at Drogheda was to stay clear of relegation, and I saw that as a challenge!”

The former UCD, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, Limerick and most recently Drogheda United man then got talking on how he was convinced by Town boss Neale Fenn to play for the FAI Cup Winners of ‘03 and ’04.

“Neale was always very close to signing me and the second time he rang I had a chat with him, met him twice and yeah, he convinced me. The team he’s trying to put together seems like a good one and we’ve got every chance in getting promoted.”

Undoubtedly, Mulhall said that he is keen to establish a strong relationship with the Longford Town supporters, akin to the strong bond he established with the Limerick FC fans while at the Markets Field.

“Yeah without doubt, any support of mine has been really appreciative of my hard work. They’ll always get that out of me and luckily enough down in Limerick it all came together, scoring a lot of goals and winning trophies. As a result, I had great relationship with the Limerick fans and still do to this day. Yeah definitely if we can get the fans on side. I’m a player that will work hard and it will be definitely a big aim of mine to get the fans on side myself.”

Mulhall, no stranger to gaining promotion from the First Division, having achieved the feat with no less than three clubs, has said that he is looking to help Neale Fenn and Longford Town secure Premier Division football at the City Calling Stadium for the 2019 campaign.

“That’s exactly it, that’s the reason I’m going here! As I said talking with Neale about the players that he’s trying to bring in, and the players that are already signed back, he’s got work done nice and early.”

“We’d like to think that when we get back in January that the squad will be nearly finalised. I’m not saying that we’re going to have a head start on teams but if you can get your squad in nice and early you can build for the pre-season.”

“It’s only six weeks long and the team needs to know exactly what they want to do ahead of the start of the season. So hopefully we get a good start and hopefully we’ll be in the mix for promotion for the end of the season.”

14 March 2014; UCD’s Chris Mulhall, left, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal with team-mate Tomas Boyle. Airtricity League Premier Division, St Patrick’s Athletic v UCD, Richmond Park, Dublin. Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE

Finally, the Birmingham-born Mulhall revealed his thoughts on how he thinks the newly-structured First Division will play out next season, saying that he thinks it will be a more competitive spectacle than the previous two seasons.

“Last time I was in the First Division (with Limerick) there was only 7 I think so it wasn’t very good. Every 6/7 weeks you’re back around playing the same team. The 10 team (league) will definitely suit the First Division with the games being a lot more competitive. Obviously the three coming down and the teams that were already in it from last year will make it very competitive.”

“But, look it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to. The last two years in the First Division, Limerick the team who I was involved with were far too strong for it and Waterford were probably the same last year. So, this year I would expect it to be a little bit closer with 4 or 5 teams fighting it out.”


Interview with Longford Town’s Dan Beya

Wed Sep 6th 2017

Interview by Tony Ghee

Longford Town youngster Dan Beya has a passion and dedication for soccer that has seen him progress from playing for Camlin United in the Longford and District Schoolboys/Schoolgirls League to the Longford Town FC setup. After playing for the club’s Under 17 and Under 19 sides, Dan is now part of the first team squad and has featured in several matchday squads this season gaining some valuable first team playing time, the most recent being against Athlone Town. At a training session this week, Dan spoke to Tony Ghee.



Player Interview: Daniel O’Reilly

Thu Aug 31st 2017

ANDREW DEMPSEY got talking on the phone with Longford Town defender DANIEL O’REILLY ahead of the First Division clash versus Cabinteely on Friday night (kick-off is 7.45pm).

Also being discussed was Daniel’s experience in non-league football in England, his favourite moment while playing for De Town, last weeks cup game in the Iveagh Grounds and playing under Neale Fenn.

Being at the club for two stints now, for half of the 2016 season and this year, what has your favourite moment at the club to date?

“Probably scoring the winner last time against Cabinteely to be fair. Yeah, obviously beating Sligo in the cup stands out. I wouldn’t say a lot from last year due to the fact that it was such a negative season for us. Probably, yeah scoring the winner against Cabinteely (is my favourite).”

Obviously having spent some time in England with Fulham and Hereford United most notably, did the experience help you develop as a footballer especially in the non leagues?

“I think it did help me develop, firstly I got Hereford and most recently last year I got Eastbourne. I think Eastbourne was probably a better one (experience) because the Hereford situation was a bit messy. My first time at Eastbourne was good to get experience on a first team level because I was only 19 at the time. The second time at Eastbourne, it was good to get experience in the lower leagues. There’s some good players in that (non-league), it’s very physical and probably more physical than the League of Ireland so coming back to the League of Ireland I kind of took that into my game to be more of a leader as in physical presence and dominating strikers.”

Going back to last weeks game away to Bangor Celtic, how difficult was it to progress in the end?

“I think we made it a bit more difficult for ourselves at times. We could have scored a couple in the first half and it would have been a different game. They (Bangor) gave a good account of themselves, like they’re a good side but obviously we got the win and the clean sheet is important as well.”

On the back of three straight wins on the bounce, with wins over Sligo, Athlone and Bangor, what is confidence like among the camp?

“Yeah its good and obviously we want to push for the last few games. We’ve got four league games left and we obviously want to go as far as we can in the cup even though we got a very tough draw. Yeah its really good, we know a lot about the opposition players and are feeling good. We just want to finish the season strong now and get up as far as we can in the table.”

As you just mentioned there, the aim is to finish as high as possible and end the season strong. Would that be a fair assessment to make?                 

“Yeah, realistically we can get third. We still have to play Cabinteely and UCD and were quite close to UCD and obviously we are only one point behind Cabinteely so if we beat them on Friday we push ahead of them and then with three games left you just never know! We could finish below Shels or we could finish above UCD so it’s a bit of a funny one.”

Obviously you grabbed the winner last time out against Cabinteely at the City Calling Stadium, which happened to be Neale Fenn’s first game in charge at the club. How have you found playing under the new boss?

“I love playing under him. He’s a very good man manager as in speaking to his players and the way he has us playing football suits us. We have a lot of good technical players and from the start of the season we weren’t really playing to our strengths. I don’t know we knew how to play to each other’s strengths I suppose and Neale has obviously got us playing good football playing out from the back. Obviously it’s going to be risky but a lot of the lads love it because it’s working well with making chances. He understands that we want to do well but we haven’t done as well as well so he’s getting us working on things. He’s a very good coach and I’m very happy playing under him yeah.”

Last but certainly not least, what kind of a challenge are you expecting from Cabinteely on Friday night?

“Yeah, I think they’ll be a very good side. I think they will be better than the time we played them and beat them one-nil.  I think they were a bit short on short on players then but obviously they have added a few good players through the likes of  Ryan Swan and Conor Earley in midfield. Marty (Kieran Marty Waters) is doing very well up front so it will be a tough game. I think it will be quite tight but we will be going in confident so hopefully we get the win.”

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