Poacher sets targets for Mayo clash but knows the scale of the challenge facing Leitrim

Championship is a time for dreaming of glory and fascinating new possibilities of upending the apple cart but after a traumatic spring, Steven Poacher is simply dreaming a Leitrim players achieving their own personal targets when Mayo’s juggernaut comes to Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada next Saturday  for the Connacht Senior Championship (4.30 pm throw-in).

The cynics would have you believe that Leitrim are meekly succumbing to fate before a ball is even kicked but with a record of just three victories over the Green & Red of Mayo in 31 previous meetings, the Leitrim manager is all too  aware of the scale of the task facing Leitrim in the first game on  the newly relaid playing surface in Pairc Sean.

“Mayo are a county I’ve always admired and respected and Saturday is obviously going to be a huge task for our young group,” Steven told the Observer ahead of Saturday’s provincial semi-final, “but we’ll prepare for it in the same way as we prepare for all games. We’ll see if there are any ways in which we can be competitive and obviously try and compete at the best we possibly can.

“But you know yourself, it is a very new Leitrim team and another new experience for a lot of lads who have never played in a Connacht championship match before. We will set ourselves some performance targets, we will give ourselves targets in certain areas of the field.”

In much the same way as any of the counties coming up against Dublin in Leinster or Kerry in Munster, facing a Mayo team who reached the Allianz NFL Division 1 Final this year is not a pleasant prospect but Poacher wants his players to concentrate on specific targets and goals within Saturday’s match.

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“We give ourselves targets on their kickouts, we give ourselves targets on the defensive side of the game - how many turnovers we create and how many counter-attacks we create. We give ourselves targets on our possession counts and on how many scoring opportunities we can try and create.

“That's all we can really do - it's just about trying to focus on what we can do in ourselves and not worrying so much about the outcome. That's really it - it is just really trying to set the young group some personal targets, some collective targets and take it from there.”

If that seems like an unnecessarily bleak approach, consider that Leitrim’s last encounter with the Mayo resulted in a record breaking 24 point defeat in 2021 in Terry Hyland’s last game in charge of the Green & Gold and Poacher is not just aware of how potent a threat Saturday's visitors pose, he is an admirer of Kevin McStay’s team.

“We're well aware of the strengths and the capabilities of Mayo. They’ve got some brilliant footballers, Kevin McStay is in year three at the helm and well down the line. They are nearly better suited to new rules - more space, a bit more chaotic, Mayo have always thrived on chaos and the sort of football, a rock and roll style you could call it.

“I've always admired Mayo as a footballing county, I’ve always admired them even going back to games that they played against that six-in-a-row Dublin team - I don't think there was a person in the country, outside of Dublin, that didn't warm to them.”

Even with the daunting prospect of taking on Mayo, 2-20 to 2-17 winners over a Sligo team who handed Leitrim a 0-32 to 0-10 tanking in the final round of the League, Steven believes that Leitrim’s footballers should relish the occasion and stressed just how much the Provincial championships means to counties.

“It is probably a game  that any footballer would love to play in. I went down to Castlebar on Sunday week last to watch Mayo and Sligo and there is a nice feel about championship football, albeit many people would say that the provincials are dying a death.  You can see some of the provincial games up here in Ulster and what it means to people and you see games in Connacht as well.

“The Connacht Final last year is a prime example -  it went right to the wire. The Provincials, for me, are still very important and for a lot of players and a lot of counties. Obviously we know ourselves that Saturday is a monumental task.”

The Leitrim manager is hopeful that the talismanic Barry McNulty will be back in harness for the Green & Gold against Mayo, the UCD student coming through 40 minutes with his club at the weekend, and Poacher is undoubtedly a fan of the Glencar Manorhamilton clubman as he counted the cost of McNulty’s injury during the league.

“We were grossly unfortunate - we didn't lose Barry, we lost him obviously playing for UCD, probably in a game where he was carrying a bit of a knock going in. Maybe he shouldn't have been on the field at that stage, I don't know. Obviously, that's all hindsight and if his hamstring was going to go, it was probably going to go at training anyway.

“It was frustrating, hugely frustrating - Barry is an exceptional talent. People talk about generational talents - Barry McNulty is a really fine, fine footballer and would be a mainstay on any team in Ireland. Coupled with Barry’s footballing ability, he is actually a lovely guy, he is a solid young man, he sets good standards for the group. 

“Barry is one of the first through the door, he's one of the last to leave. He's always demanding more. He's very hard on himself as well and that's good. Obviously, not having Barry all through the League was hugely disappointing.”

McNulty’s loss was but one of a litany of injuries that completely derailed any ambitions Leitrim might have had of retaining their Division 3 status as the Leitrim boss recalls: “You go into one of the first league games and you lose Paddy Keane in the warm-up down in Ennis , we haven't seen him on the field since. 

“One of the young Harkins who came in and had a good season for Mohill last year and he did his ankle in the first game. Jordy Reynolds obviously does his ankle and he misses the season, it's just one thing after another. 

“Even against Sligo in the League where we actually started the game quite well, we were three all after about 12, 13 minutes. We were getting a wee bit of ball in the middle from Conor Quinn and then he did his ankle.”

The old saying that if Leitrim didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all seems appropriate as Poacher is hopeful that the injury  situation may just be  easing somewhat: “It just seems to be a catalogue of just absolutely uncanny bad luck when it comes to the injury front. You'd be questioning yourself from a training perspective if these injuries were happening in training and if they were soft tissue injuries or not. 

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“But a lot of them are actually really just bad luck. That's what a lot of them have come down to. We're hopeful now, please God, that we will have the U20s back in the fold. Obviously, they can't progress now in their own tournament and we haven't really seen them since the 2nd of March, they’ve been solely focused on the U20s for the last five weeks. So, hopefully, please God, we'll get them back in and that will give the whole thing a renewed sense of impetus for the next few weeks.”

Saturday’s game is also something of a new era for Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada with a new state of the art Prunty Pitch hosting its first game and Steven admits he is eager to finally lead his Leitrim team into battle at the Carrick on Shannon  venue: “I've been to Pairc Sean  a few times in the past myself as a coach and a supporter, it's a lovely venue.

“Carrick is a lively town and a 4.30 throw-in will give people a chance to socialise and maybe if the weather is good, the ambiance of a Connacht championship game in the local town and that is important for people too. That is what the GAA is all about, it is about family, it is about community and friends and enjoying these days as well regardless of the result, a lovely day out.

“Championship football and if the weather stays as it has, I was in Castlebar and the sun was shining and it just felt like summer. Obviously, we would hope that we get a good day and the pitch is looking really good. So please God, we can put in a performance worthy of the new venue.”