Zambian manager Trebor Mahtal ticked the first letter off his Alphabet Challenge – in which he was attempting to win a major trophy with a club starting with every letter of the alphabet – as he lifted the Latvija Kauss with SK Super Nova. He left the club at the end of his contract in early November 2025 to begin the search for his second club.
Mahtal tried to expand his options by adding the Argentinian and Chinese leagues to the database from January 2026, but he had no option other than to sit back and wait patiently. The good news was that the cup win had boosted Mahtal’s reputation to one-star and slightly boosted some of his attributes.
After six months of patiently waiting, Mahtal remained unemployed and was naturally beginning to worry that his fledgling career had stalled. Mahtal was oddly overlooked for the Gibraltar Lions job but, in early July, was offered just a second career interview by Lyn in Norway, but was again rejected in favour of giving a first managerial role to an experienced coach. However, over the next few days, he was invited to an interview by Irish side Longford Town, who came in with an offer, putting Mahtal on £1,200 per week for 12 months.
Who Are Longford Town?
Longford Town is a semi-professional club based in County Longford, about 70 miles west of Dublin. The club was first founded in 1924, when it decided to adopt the same red and black colours as famous Dublin side Bohemians. The club competes in the Midlands Derby with Athlone Town and plays at the 4,977-capacity Bishopsgate, which was built in 1924 and doesn’t even come close to being half-filled by Longford supporters.
Longford lingered in non-league for 60 years before being elected into the League of Ireland in 1984, the year of Mahtal’s birth. One of the club’s most famous moments was reaching the Leinster Senior Cup Final as a non-league side in 1954, losing the final 2-1 to a late goal by Ireland’s then-dominant Shamrock Rovers. Longford’s early league days weren’t overly positive. They were relegated in their first season in the top tier to drop into the newly created First Division, in which they then finished bottom of the league again with just seven points. In fact, they finished in the bottom six of the ten-team league in all of the following 11 seasons.
But their fortunes took a turn for the better with the appointment of 26-year-old Stephen Kenny – who went on to manage Republic of Ireland – in 1998. Kenny led them to promotion in his second season, then comfortable survival in the Premier Division and the club’s first Irish Cup Final in his third. They lost the final to Bohemians, but it earned the club’s first taste of European football. Kenny moved on, but Longford established themselves as a top-tier side, won their first major honour as they lifted the Irish Cup in 2003, then won a cup double in 2004 – which was the club’s greatest season. However, Longford were related in 2007 and, despite a promotion in 2014, has been stuck in the second tier since 2016.
Longford Town In 2026
Longford parted ways with Declan Devine as he moved to Northern Irish side Carrick Rangers after two years at the club. Mahtal walks into a good situation as Longford sit 2nd in SSE Airtricity League First Division, trailing leaders UCD by 4 points with 13 games remaining. And the board only expects Mahtal to take Longford to the playoffs. There’s also a familiar story financially, with Longford £2,000 in the red.
The best players at Longford are 24-year-old winger Josh Giurgi, along with the league’s top scorer Rob Manley, who’s scored 14 in 25, midfielder Jordan Flores, right back Shane Elworthy, winger Valerii Dolia, and two promising young loanees in midfielder Ethon Frahill and goalkeeper Jack Bradley.
Having assessed his options, Mahtal initially decided to go with a fairly standard 4-3-3 that played on their wide and sole striker option.
Getting Started In Ireland
Mahtal’s first match in Ireland came just three days after his appointment, and he began with away days against the bottom two. First up, Longford travelled to Drogheda United, dominated from the first whistle and took control with two superb strikes by midfielder Eoghan Stokes, who wrapped up his hat trick with a penalty. Four days later, they visited bottom-side Treaty United and edged in front with Dolia’s header before Stokes tucked away a dubious penalty won by Giurgi to ease to a 2-0 victory.
The Longford fans got their first look at their first Zambian manager as Longford entertained Finn Harps. And they enjoyed what they saw as Giurgi’s brilliant run down the right teed up Manley for an easy tap-in before the visitors scored their only shot of the first half. But Longford dominated and Giurgi’s powerful strike restored the lead and Stokes scored a decisive third. That took Longford top of the league ahead of a huge trip to UCD, who obviously scored their first shot from a corner. But Longford were the better team and pulled level through a penalty by that man Stokes, who’d only scored 5 in 25 but made it 6 in five under Mahtal! Bradley’s hoofed clearance put Manley through to score against his former club and the striker doubled his tally with a towering header from a corner. That huge win set a new club record of 11 games unbeaten in all competitions.
That big away win saw Mahtal achieve the board’s objective to reach the playoffs inside one month of being at the club. But he wasn’t satisfied with that as he hunted the sole automatic promotion place. His flying start continued as Dolia’s late goal nicked a 1-0 over Bray Wanderers before falling to a 2-0 defeat at Cobh Ramblers. That took Longford 4 points clear of UCD with five games remaining. That position was strengthened as Dolia and Manley earned a comfortable 2-0 win at 5th-place Kerry while UCD lost 4-3 at Cobh, who’d beaten both of the top two at home in the last week.
Promotion Battle
Longford went into the final four games with a 7-point lead over stumbling UCD and in-form Drogheda.
The run-in began with a big Friday night game at home to 3rd-place Dundalk. Longford had the better of a poor first half and took the lead with Stokes’ 25-yard piledriver. That was enough for a 1-0 win, as Dundalk mustered just two shots, while UCD nicked a late 1-0 win over Bray. UCD played on the following Monday, as they had an Irish Cup semi the next Friday, and lost 2-1 at Kerry to hand the title to Longford on a plate.
Longford Town won the First Division to gain promotion to SSE Airtricity League Premier Division!
Longford celebrated the title, which saw Mahtal pass the board’s promotion objective four years ahead of schedule, with Manley scoring twice in a draw at Athlone before parading the trophy to their fans in a draw with Drogheda and a 3-0 win over Treaty.
That saw Longford win the league by 8 points from UCD. They finished on 75 points after 22 wins, 9 draws and 5 defeats, scoring a league-high 67 and conceding a league-low 34. Manley was the league’s top scorer with 21 and got the most player of the match awards with 6. UCD came close to joining them, beating Dundalk 5-3 in the playoff final only to lose to top-flight Cork 3-1 in the promotion playoff.
Celebrating A Rapid Promotion
Mahtal was delighted he’d managed to continue Longford’s strong form and lead the club to an unexpected promotion. Manley led the way with a new club record 23 goals in 38 games followed by Stokes (12) and Dolia and Giurgi (8). Dolia and Elworthy led the assists with 9 followed by Giurgi and Stokes (6). While Elworthy broke Stephen O’Brien’s league appearances record of 250, moving on to a new high of 274.
Mahtal was under no illusions that he faced a tough task to keep Longford in the Irish top tier next season. An even bigger challenge was that 11 of his first-teamers were out of contract at the end of the season, but only two of them were regular starters.
Could Mahtal strengthen his Longford side in a bid to survive in the Irish Premier League? Join us on Friday to find out!
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