After the great win over Kerry, Seán Moran asks Dennis Connerton where his side can go from here

What must have been Dennis Connerton's ambition for Sunday - since the day the National Football League draw was made - was fulfilled as the Longford manager reflected on the big result from the opening day of the league.

Kerry mightn't remember the match as fondly or, indeed, depending on their summer, mightn't remember it all in a few months' time, but it will linger in the memory in Longford.

Sunday's win - achieved five minutes into injury-time - was the county's first against Kerry in over 30 years and gives the team a great morale lift going into next week's neighbourhood clash with Westmeath.

"I was most pleased with the way we didn't give up," said Connerton. "In the past, belief has been lacking and things normally go against us. We hit the post, the bar and just miss out. Maybe this will prove to be a turning point.

"I thought Kerry were hugely economical. They had five wides; we had 13. We edged it on fitness and dominated the last five or six minutes. It was important that we stayed in touch throughout the game and we were never more than a score behind so we didn't let a gap develop.

"We knew we could get back into it, but four points down and it's very difficult." He laughs at Kerry grumbles that too much injury-time was played: "There was too much excitement to be looking at the watch."

The Longford manager is sufficiently cautious not to get carried away with the win, no matter how historic it may be. His team might have been pumped up with adrenalin and thrilled at the outcome, but there are still six more matches in the programme.

It's not that there's any danger of complacency, but a result like the weekend's makes more demands on a team like Longford than it would on any of the established powers.

"We have to work so hard to compete. All of the teams in the division have been around, but we've no experience at this sort of level.

"I hope it won't be taking too much out of us, that the matches don't leave us drained. We had to find a lot to win that match, more than Kerry would have to put into it."

But this is both the challenge and the opportunity of life at the top. The challenge for a promoted team is to raise its game to the level where it can compete against the major counties without being demoralised.

The opportunity is to develop at an elite level. For Connerton promotion also means the culmination of a long, hard struggle.

"I'd dearly love to stay in Division One. It was so difficult to get up in the first place and the county hasn't been here for 31 years."

The luck of the draw has ordained that the county has derived little sustenance from the three years of the All-Ireland qualifier system. Unlike Westmeath or Limerick, Longford haven't had the opportunity for any summer development.

"The qualifiers still haven't been of huge benefit to us. We lost to Kildare in Leinster last year and then in the qualifiers to Donegal. We seem to get northern teams every year; the year before last it was Down and Derry. We could do with a break."

Injuries also play a part in how teams like Longford can adapt at the highest level. Already Connerton has had to do without Michael Kelly, Paul Ross, James Gilmartin and Dermot Brady.

With football's most famous scalp under their belt, Longford have a more familiar task next week, as they make the short trip to Mullingar to take on Westmeath, all a-buzz since the arrival of Páidí Ó Sé and who were unlucky not to take both points from Cork at the weekend.

"Our record hasn't been what we would want it to be and they're going well. Cork didn't drop any points at home last year, but Westmeath took one off them.We've done a lot of gym work since November but not a huge amount on the field. The games are very condensed and playing them with a meeting in between will keep us ticking over."

That's for now, but Connerton's hopes for the league are longer-term. "Playing the top teams should improve us. It will show up our weaknesses and our strengths, teach us that when we make mistakes they'll be punished."