Focal point of very long course cut short (9)
I believe the answer is:
epicentre
'focal point' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'very long course cut short' is the wordplay.
'very long' becomes 'epic' (I've seen this before).
'course' becomes 'entree' (course of a meal).
'cut short' means to remove the last letter.
'entree' with its final letter removed is 'entre'.
'epic'+'entre'='EPICENTRE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for epicentre that I've seen before include "Pure heart" , "Area most affected" , "Point at which earthquake reaches earth's surface" , "Locator for an earthquake" , "Shocking scene" .)