Billy O'Loughlin: Walls are closing in on the provincials

At the start of the year the then new Longford football manager Billy O'Loughlin said he would be ignoring the "defunct and lopsided" Leinster championship.

Whether or not mind games were at play, in advance of a derby clash with Westmeath, was open to debate. In any event, the Lake County went on to record a comfortable win at the quarter-final stage on 30 April.

O'Loughlin and Longford then took their place in the Tailteann Cup, where they lost narrowly to Fermanagh last weekend. An entertaining tussle it was at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, where O'Loughlin and two of his players - captain Mickey Quinn and vice-captain, Darren Gallagher - were mic'd up for the duration of the game.

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"It's all part of AIB’s new series 'Tailteann Cup: Mic’d Up’, aimed at gving supporters added insights to what goes on on the sideline and on the pitch. Speaking to RTÉ Sport at the launch of the initiative, the O'Moore boss said it was "unusual initially to get a focus on the game but that wears off after a while".

As to whether it will catch on, the O'Moore boss added: "It gives the supporters something different in how teams prepare and the inner workings of a game, the tactics and what positions the guys might take up. It gives a third eye on match-day situations and could also get the referee more involved in terms of why he made his decisions.

"There's a lot of talking on the pitch. We have two great players in Darren Gallagher and Mickey Quinn who are good at organising defences and getting guys