Location of Longstone
Few clubs can boast to have had a
poet as their first secretary but Longstone are different.
The first elected committee of the club in 1945 saw
Joe Doran as chairman, Eddie Burden as treasurer and
W. J. "the Poet" Fitzpatrick as Runai!
Edward Cunningham and Thoinas George
Burden were the men really responsible for reviving
Gaelic Football in Longstone after it had flickered
there and died in the thirties. They raised enough
money to buy a ball and rent a field and Longstone
was launched. They rose quickly through the leagues,
finishing runners-up in the Senior League in 1951,
and reaching (and losing) a S.F.C. final by 1955.
Key players of this decade included
Wilfred Rodgers. John P. Cunningham, Brendan McAlinden,
Pa Quinn and Mal MeEvoy of Armagh. By 1958 Longstone
had opened their new ground (they were one of the
first clubs in Down to do so) and in 1958 John Haughian
was on the first Down Minor team to win an Ulster
title.
The club, however, began to decline.
They plummeted to Division IV and remained an anonymous
junior club for most of the next two decades.
A County J.F.C. defeat by Attica]
in 1979 proved to be the springboard for revival.
Within 3 years Longstone were back in Division 1,
and they have remained one of the most consistent
teams in the league over the past decade despite a
1986 S.F.C. final defeat by Burren.
The club installed floodlights in
the late Seventies, and completed a.massive redevelopment
of their pitch and social facilities in 1984.
In 1985 the club published its history.
Longstone's proud football tradition is evidenced
by the list of leading players it has produced. These
include John Haugbian (All-Ireland S.F.C. 1960), Henry
Smith (All-Ireland M.F.C. 1966), Hugh Trainor (All-Ireland
U-21 F.C. 1978). Raphael and Noel Haugbian (All-Ireland
M.F.C. 1987) and of course Ambrose Rodgers (RIP).
Emmet Haughian was Chairman of the
South Down Board.
