THE LAST POINT: A three year overnight success!

Good things come to those who wait and it certainly did last Sunday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada but the truth is that what seems like an overnight success for Andy Moran's side has been three long and sometimes frustrating years in the making!

Two weeks ago, promotion looked nothing more than a pipe dream as Leitrim left Glennon Brothers Pearse Park with their tails between their legs - no hard luck stories, no laments of what might have been as the knives were now being openly sharpened for the Leitrim manager as the general consensus was that the Green & Gold would be staying in Division 4 for the 2025 season.

Contrary to modern trends, Moran isn't one to talk of proving the critics wrong but you have to give the Leitrim manager huge kudos for how he steadied the Leitrim ship and guided the Green & Gold to promotion. The obvious gains in physical conditioning that have taken time to bed in  have been matched by growing confidence and all that was on show last Sunday afternoon.

I'll admit I thought promotion was gone but in adversity, Leitrim found something deep inside themselves and the die-hard contingent of fans, much smaller than what had attended previous games, who made the journey to O'Moore Park were treated to the best performance of Moran's reign.

Once Leitrim won in Portlaoise, the odds were always in their favour - Wexford are, to my mind at least, the best team Leitrim faced but like Carlow against Leitrim, they found themselves on the wrong end of a late killer blow - more about that later.

THE LAST POINT: LOST FOR WORDS BUT FULL OF WONDER

I met plenty of nervous Leitrim fans in Pairc Sean last Sunday but I wasn't one of them, cocky almost that Leitrim would do what they needed against a stubborn but limited Tipperary  in the throes of a major rebuilding project. My nerves were reserved for what might happen in Chadwicks Wexford Park but those fears soon dissipated, replaced instead by a growing unease at what we were witnessing in Carrick.

Truth be told, it wasn't Leitrim's most commanding performance but it may have been exactly what the doctor ordered - instead of relying on chaos and passion, Leitrim played with steely resolve and cold-eye clinicalness and once Leitrim opened up a four point gap, there was never any sense that the Munster men would reel in the Green & Gold.

Of course, that didn't stop the nerves - we're Leitrim fans after all and experience, long and bitter, has taught us to expect a kick in the arse rather than a pat on the back. Even  the news of Wexford's big win over Longford didn't ease the  sense of what might go wrong coming from the stands rather than fans luxuriating in sealing promotion and looking forward to  a trip to Croke Park next Saturday.

It might have been so different had Mark Barry's late free not hit the post  in Portlaoise and it would be Wexford celebrating and not Leitrim but that falls within the ebb and flow of a game. Inevitably footage of Leitrim's controversial match winning penalty against the Model County showed up on social media on Sunday evening and if anything, it appears attitudes have hardened as to whether you believe it was a penalty or not.

Sometimes you make your own luck and sometimes it goes against you - Leitrim have made the most of it since that day but Wexford can rightly feel aggrieved. I agree that promotion is won over seven games, decisions vary from game to game but in this case, thanks to the head to head rule, that penalty decision decided promotion   - it really was this tight in the race for promotion.

Next up is a League Final on Saturday and another conundrum - League Finals have got a bad rap these days with a championship meeting with Sligo just eight days later. Laois aren't in championship action until April 13, so do they have an advantage? The sense I get is that Leitrim are going bald headed to win the League title and they are dead right -  the Leitrim GAA trophy cabinet isn't exactly bursting at the seams and winning a Division 4 medal is tangible rewards for this group of players.

Andy Moran's side travel with some confidence - they ran the legs off Laois in round six, they'll not be afraid and Laois don't possess the same aura that  Derry did five years ago. Yet only the foolish will write off Justin McNulty's side, their dangerous forwards might make better headway in Croke Park than  they did in the mud of O'Moore Park and they'll be gunning for revenge too.

There was only a point between the teams the last day out, Leitrim should have won more comfortably but there was still nothing in it. Tiny margins will tell the tale, as it did against Wexford and Carlow - I have a sense Leitrim are primed for victory but  Laois are formidable opponents, more familiar with Croke Park than Leitrim. 

All that remains is to wish Andy Moran and his team the best of luck next Saturday - if they produce what they did the last day out against Laois, we could be celebrating a rare National title for the Green & Gold on Saturday!  

LADIES FORMAT, NOT LOSS, DEFIES BELIEF

Far away from Pairc Sean last Sunday, Leitrim Ladies were also on their own promotion quest and if I had been asked beforehand, I'd have put my money on the high scoring Ladies to secure promotion  rather than Andy Moran's side. It was not to be in a dramatic and heartbreaking denouement to the game in  Woodmount.

Lest anyone think it is sour grapes, the pattern of the game suggests that Limerick deserved their 2-10 to 1-11 victory, leading the entire game for all but 60 seconds. Muireann Devaney looked to have rescued a misfiring Leitrim with a goal six minutes  into added time but, in a  cruel final twist, Limerick turned over the ball and with Leitrim's defence caught out of position, Charlene Tyrell was left trying to stop  two marauding Treaty attackers as  Iris Kenneally lobbed Michelle Monaghan for the winner with the last kick of the contest.

That's sport - Leitrim have won and lost  men's and women's games in split seconds and while Leitrim have  cause for regret, my annoyance is rooted in a  structure that penalised both Leitrim and Fermanagh. Fermanagh and Leitrim dropped just five points from a possible 42 between them with  scoring differences of plus 68 and 84 respectively.

REPORT: LEITRIM LADIES LOSE OUT ON PROMOTION TO LATE, LATE LIMERICK GOAL

In the other three divisions, the top two automatically contest the League Finals but not in Division 4 where Limerick and Carlow now get to  play Division 3 football in 2025 thanks to a record of three wins, two losses and two draws each and scoring differences of plus eight and 23 respectively.

Again, I stress this isn't sour grapes -  credit Limerick and Carlow for seizing their chance but why were the Division 4 counties treated so differently to the other Divisions? The big talk in Ladies football is equal treatment and equal respect but the Division 4 counties were not treated equally to their counterparts in the higher Divisions. Fair play to Limerick & Carlow, they took their chance but  Fermanagh, who also lost to a late goal, and Leitrim fell victim to a  bizarre and fundamentally unfair format that needs to be changed immediately.