THE LAST POINT: A contrast in emotions in 24 hours

Hard to think of a 24 hour period that sums up the rollercoaster of emotions that afflicts Leitrim supporters better than the spell between Thursday and Friday last week when the news emerged that Nevin O'Donnell was transferring his inter-county allegiances to Cavan and the wonderfully, uplifting victory of the Leitrim Schools team over Colleges kingpins St Jarlath's of Tuam.

To be honest, it was a pretty rough introduction back into the realities of everyday life after a long and overdue holiday that ended with, miracle of all miracles, witnessing Everton scoring four, yes four, goals last Wednesday evening in Goodison Park for a much needed and long overdue victory.

Trepidation was the overwhelming feeling as our small Toffee contingent made the short hop across the Irish sea last Wednesday - a final visit to the Grand Old Lady of English soccer was on the to-do list for quite a while and with the magnificent new, yet to be named stadium towering over the Mersey at Bramley Moor Dock, visiting Goodison one last time during its final season was not just a treat, it was an imperative.

It's not that my visits to Goodison have been overly joyful, draws and defeats and not one win down through the years so with the Toffees' current form and my own personal jinx, our small party weren't exactly brimming over with confidence when we left Dublin Airport for a must win game against Wolves.

But sometimes you don't get what you expect - a goal inside ten minutes seemed too good to be true and, pessimists that we are, we expected the worst as Wolves would fight back! But the goals for Everton  never stopped coming, four in total and another two disallowed and a few howlers of misses. True and fatalistic Evertonian that I am, I never relaxed until the very final seconds of four minutes of injury time - my last time in Goodison, a two goal lead evaporated in injury time so no counting the chickens here!

THE LAST POINT: CELEBRATION, REGRET & HOPE IN ONE WEEKEND

As send-offs go, I'm not sure you could get better - the chances of making it over to Goodison for the rest of this season are slim as, even in the midst of a dour season where the Toffees have struggled to fire, over 38,800 fans packed into the Grand Old Lady so making it back over before the final game next May seems remote. As my cousin and fellow Toffee Shane said, hard to beat a 4-0 victory as the best possible goodbye to Goodison Park.

Any sense of dreamland that lingered after my pilgrimage to Goodison was soon dispelled when I got back home - maybe the turbulence that rocked our flight was a pointer of things to come but when former Observer journalist Fiona Heavey WhatsApp'ed a link that Nevin O'Donnell was joining her native county Cavan's squad, it was back to business as usual.

First of all, Nevin owes Leitrim nothing as Andy Moran's experiment of turning a lifelong forward into a quality inter-county keeper came up trumps. No more than any other keeper in the most perilous and exposed position in the game, there were times when it didn't go well for Nevin but you could never doubt his commitment and passion for the Leitrim jersey so I wish him well as he seeks to win the number one jersey with his native county.

Players switching counties is nothing new - in fact, it was almost normal 50 or 60 years ago when the transport infrastructure wasn't as developed as it is nowadays and in my own time with the Observer, I've witnessed Declan Darcy and Jason Ward both depart the Green & Gold to join the Dubs, Paul Brennan went to Donegal, Enda Williams join from Longford while Kevin Conlan was drafted into a Cork training squad for a period after leaving Leitrim.

The only jarring note is the timing - teams are officially just back in group training but inter-county players the length and breadth of the country have been working in the gym and on their own individual programmes for weeks as plans and strategies, particularly with the new rules coming in, are being made.

It is hard not to see the O'Donnell flourishing, and why Cavan might want him, in light of the new rules given his background first as a forward and then a keeper but coming so close to the 2025 season, it thrusts a headache not of his own making upon new manager Steven Poacher who is already down a few players before a ball is even kicked in anger.

That quickly punctured the high of Goodison so you can understand if the mood was as dark and foreboding as the weather that lashed the country last Friday when Storm Darragh arrived but instead, it was back to dreamland when Leitrim Schools recorded their first ever victory in the Connacht Post Primary Schools Senior A Championship.

Not only did they win, they did it against the most successful school in the history of Post Primary Schools - St Jarlath's of Tuam fell to a 2-18 to 1-15 defeat in the NUI Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome (thankfully given the howling winds and lashing rain outside in Bekan), a victory built not on good fortune or a backs against the wall defiance but rather a performance laden with skill and ability.

The famed Tuam school are a long way distant from their glorious heyday, their last Hogan Cup coming in 2002 when Michael Meehan led a star-studded St Jarlath's to their 12th All-Ireland Schools title. They appeared in two finals since then but the changing landscape of schools football has seen that Sligo's Summerhill College and Westport's Rice College both appear in All-Ireland Finals far more recently than Jarlath's.

But their history is unparalleled - 49 Connacht titles, their most recent just two years ago, is not just 40 titles clear of their nearest challenges in the province, Jarlath's are 20 titles clear of the next most successful school in Colleges football, Longford's St Mel's with 29. St Colman's Newry top the Ulster list with 20 MacRory Cups and St Brendan's Killarney are the Munster kingpins with 24 Corn Uí Mhuirí wins but nobody comes close to Jarlath's for success.

That might just put what Shane Ward's team achieved last Friday into some context - the Leitrim Schools team is a brave experiment that some weren't too keen on and last year's struggles might have sunk the ship before it got out of the harbour had Leitrim GAA not persisted and persevered with a project that hopefully will pay big dividends in the years to come.

You are probably as tired of reading it as I am of writing it but playing at a higher intensity and physicality is the only thing that will improve the fortunes of Leitrim teams in the years to come. The remarkable improvements in the performances of Leitrim's underage teams have come thanks to tough decisions on competition formats at club level over the past ten years and the Schools team is the next logical step - although I've got to say I'm worried with some 'back to the future' motions to go back to even aged grades.

THE LAST POINT: PJ'S SPARK GREW INTO A FIRE IN 1994

Last Friday was proof - at least half of Leitrim's starting team endured some tough beatings last year in the county's first outing in the premier schools' grade in the county but looking at those players in the Dome, it was as clear as the nose on your face that those harsh lessons had been absorbed and acted upon and the result was a six point win that absolutely reflected the reality of the contest.

I'd imagine Jarlath's were shocked but chatting to a fellow scribe, the Tuam men were well aware of the potential of this Leitrim side. How far can Leitrim go in the competition is hard to know - Friday's win will attract a lot of attention and a win against Colaiste Baile Chláir, who beat Leitrim 1-24 to 1-5 last January, would almost certainly see them into the semi-finals . 

Lest you think I'm losing the run of myself after one win, I retain my hard won caution and know there are many tough tests ahead for this Leitrim squad. But you've got to celebrate the big wins and this was an historic one and hopefully, the start of many, many more in the years ahead for Leitrim football!