Playing with Leitrim is such a privilege for Clare Owens

One of the curious things about inter county gaelic games these days is that you sometimes have to wonder if the players enjoy it, such are the demands and pressures on them. But have no worries in that regard when it comes to Clare Owens as it always seems as if the Leitrim player has a smile on her face on the field.

Ahead of next Sunday’s TG4  All-Ireland IFC Final, Clare was chatting to the Observer when we asked her about her tendency to always have a smile on her face or sharing a joke with team-mates and even rivals in the heat of battle and typical of the long serving former Leitrim captain, her first response was to laugh!

But her serious answer reveals just how much it means to the St Joseph’s club player to don the Leitrim jersey: “There's nowhere else you'd rather be in that moment, even the days where you lose, you're under pressure and you're down X amount or whatever, your game isn't going well, it is such a privilege.

“I know people say that and it might sound cliche but it genuinely feels like when Amhrán na bhFiann is being played before a game, I stand there and look at that flag, and I think ‘look what I get to do’. Nowadays, there's so much going on in the world, and we won't get into that, but I honestly do  look at that flag and stand with my teammates singing Amhrán na bhFiann and think ‘what a privilege to get to stand here with Leitrim crest on you and go and do this’.”

One of the  leaders on this Leitrim team, Clare has battled for many a year and admitted that she thought this day might have passed her by: “I'm playing a long time   - did I ever think I'd see the day? Yeah, I always thought it was in this group, in Leitrim ladies,  I didn't know if I was going to be around to see this day but I knew Leitrim always had it in them to go somewhere, and here we are.”

HECTIC FLYNN HOUSEHOLD SCHEDULE NO IMPEDIENT TO LEITRIM'S ORLA FLYNN

A year out to pursue other interests might have ended her inter-county career but 2024 saw her come back into the Leitrim fold: “The year out was work related. I got a chance to do something where I had to take it in that year so it wasn't a decision to step away from football.

“If I'm playing, I'm playing, and if I'm not, I'm not so it was a case of I couldn't fully commit so I didn't  but that was the only reason I didn't play last year or wasn't involved. To be honest, it feels like I've never been away. I've been around a long time, I've been involved with Leitrim ladies more than I haven't so it felt like a very natural slide back in kind of and Johnny and the management are brilliant.

“ I hadn't worked with them before but they were 100% welcoming from the get go. The stands have been packed all year with Leitrim fans  and it's just such a special thing to be involved in. Even on days that I mightn't play my best football, or the thing might not go well for the team like, it's still just such a class environment to be involved with.”

Tyrone are the opponents on Sunday but Clare doesn’t read too much into the group stages meeting in Ballinamore that  Leitrim edged 4-12 to 5-8: “That's what people will look to but it is a coincidence that we happen to play them in the groups. That game feels like a very long time ago and I'm sure it's the same for Tyrone. 

“Maybe neither of us can take too much from that game. Spectators can look on and go, Oh, wow, that was a great game, but I don't know how much we can take from it, given how long it was now. Honestly, if you said the game was before Christmas, I'd agree with you - we're on the road a lot, we're all going since November 5, so that game just kind of sets into the calendar, and it does feel quite a long time ago.

“That game was so back and forth that no team necessarily let it slip, it was just one of those rip roaring games that maybe is a standalone - we can't use too much form from it. Tyrone might feel they have a score to settle, I don't know but to me, it's all even, it's a final, it's a whole or different game. So I don't know how much either our team will be kind of thinking of too much of that game.”

Looking back over the campaign, the contests with Roscommon and Wexford stand out. Speaking of the two clashes with the neighbours, Clare said “They're great days to be involved in. I don't know what it is with Leitrim and Roscommon but we kind of bring out the best in each other. Those games have really stood to us since so we'll never turn down an opportunity to play our neighbours.”

As for Wexford, Clare never believed that the Model County were out of the reckoning in the semi-final: “From my own point of view, I felt at halftime that they hadn't played at all and they were probably in their dressing room talking about how they hadn't played. So you knew something was going to come, they weren't just going to continue the way they had started. 

“Sure enough they did. I know, for the spectators, it was nervous watching but, to be honest, I still had full belief in us to pull through, albeit it was a one point win. But there wasn't really any doubt setting in even as hectic as it got in that second half. It certainly felt like a really good game, two really good teams going at it so it did feel great to be involved in it.”

MUIREANN DEVANEY HAS NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE LEITRIM'S SEMI-FINAL JOY

The Aughavas woman admitted that the thought of extra-time never crossed her mind in the semi-final but feels the way Leitrim saw out the game highlights their growing maturity: “I didn't even think of such a thing but obviously, as you watch the score, we're kind of pulling back and more towards a level score, you are thinking, okay.

“But, we really know what we're doing this year, whether that means we win every game or not. There's a great kind of sense of unity and a sense of whatever we're doing here, we're doing it together. So if we're winning, we're losing, we're drawing, we're doing that as a team and as a group.”

As for a prediction, Clare simply says “I'm confident that if we perform to what we're capable of, it'll be a hell of a game - I'll say that.”