I had at one time an O/U with 26 inch barrels that I used for skeet, and I shot it quite well. However, I was not that good with it at sporting clays.

Short barrels are whippy and swing fast, as probably everyone knows. If you're going to be bird hunting and shooting in dense cover short barrels might help, but other than that I think the short barrels were more window dressing and a passing fad than anything else.