In the second of our series, Eamon Considine chats with Patrick Quinn.

"My first involvement with Longford Rugby Club was 1966/67 when I was home from Newbridge College. Longford Rugby Club had been dormant for many years and some of our players, like Warren Turner and Paddy Quinn, were actually playing with Mullingar. In 1967 a match was arranged with a group of us, who were quite young, against Mullingar. John Doris let us use the dog track as our pitch and we had goal posts put up. Even though Mullingar were our biggest rivals over the years, they were the team who played more games against us in the early years than any other club. This helped us enter the Midland League and later the Cup.Over the next few years my brothers Noel and Ciaran played with Longford and many of my Quinn cousins, including Paddy, John and Seamus, also appeared in the black colours for Longford. 

Around 1970 we moved to a field in Abbeycartron and played our matches on this dry but sloped pitch. We used to tog out in a couple of garages at the side of the Annaly Hotel and return afterwards to shower under a pipe pouring out cold water. At that time Longford Rugby Club was fortunate to have some forward thinking and progressive people involved in it. The likes of David Pearse, Jack Comerford, Syl Higgins, Pat Fitzgerald and others were planning the Club’s future and acquired a field beside the tennis club to play on. This pitch was later fondly known as the cabbage patch. In the mid 70’s plans were made to build a Clubhouse and another couple of fields were purchased. The likes of Derick Turner and Pierce Ryan were behind this, and the Clubhouse opened in September 1979.

My rugby career with Longford continued up until 1982 when I played my last match, not for Longford, but against them with the Quinn Fifteen. There were 13 Quinn first cousins and two others, Mick Quinn and his brother Charlie, on the team. I moved away from Longford about that time, but I’ve always followed their progress and gone to matches whenever I got the chance.

Since my first involvement with the Club, I have met some amazing people who have given of their time voluntarily for the betterment of the Club, be it being on the bar teams, to coaching, and driving youngsters to matches. I’m a proud Longford man and an even prouder Longford Rugby Club man."

Patrick, of course, is part of an extended Quinn family who have had a long association with the Club, going right back to it's re-formation in 1967.