THE LAST POINT: Reward for keeping the dream alive

Be they broken and unfulfilled or gloriously realised in a moment of stupendous glory, there isn't a sport on this planet that doesn't lend itself to dreams of glory and while most of us experience the bitter tears of shattered hopes, dreaming of glory that motivates us and drives us all to dedicate so much of our time and energy to the pursuit of those dreams.

Sometimes the dreams are big but they also change over time - up in Manorhamilton, Dean Clancy has been working away for years in Sean McDermott Boxing Club to realise his dreams of competing for Ireland at the Olympic Games. Job done, the dream has shifted to winning for Ireland in Paris this Summer and who's to say that the Sligo boxer won't achieve just that.

He might be joined in Paris by Gerard O'Donnell whose dreams have shifted over time from competing at the highest level to helping the next generation of Irish athletics stars deliver on their potential by  coaching some of this country's best sprinters, many of whom helped deliver some mind blowing performances at the World Relays.

Young Arigna swimmer Cormac Rynn is probably readjusting his immediate targets after setting an Irish Junior record in the 400m freestyle last weekend. I don't know if Paris is on his radar but the Trident SC swimmer is on the list of the European Championships and when you get to that rarified air, then you start dreaming big pretty quickly.

I'm sure Diarmuid O'Connell is dreaming pretty big too after he was named Connacht Rugby's U18 Player of the Year with professional sport maybe on the cards for a young Carrick-on-Shannon RFC player who has already donned the Irish jersey at underage level and is just one of a cohort of emerging rugby stars nurtured in Carrick RFC and Sligo Grammar School.

THE LAST POINT: LEITRIM ENJOY THEIR DAY IN THE SUN

What strikes me about Rynn & O'Connell is both are achieving what looks like otherworldly successes in sports that Leitrim doesn't exactly have a rich pedigree in down through the years. Yet both have developed locally, a testament to both the drive and expertise in their coaches and clubs and performing to such a standard that they are now representing their clubs, counties and country on the highest of sporting stages and all while coming from, in Leitrim terms, absolute minority sports.

The unseen work that is going on in Leitrim sports on the ground is truly mind boggling - it is not all wine and roses unfortunately with Manorhamilton Rangers losing their Sligo Leitrim Super League status last week and the news that Carrick Town FC won't field a Senior team next year is deeply disappointing but the exponential growth in women's soccer in this county and the exploits of Niall Morahan, Dearbhaile Beirne, Muireann Devaney, Evan O'Connor and Eanna Clancy shows that, temporary bumps aside, soccer is going in the right direction.

That brings us nicely to Leitrim's small but intensely dedicated hurling community who are celebrating a rare All-Ireland victory when the County's U20 hurlers defeated Monaghan on penalties after extra-time to lift the Andrew O'Neill Cup last Saturday in Kingspan Breffni Park, a success that couldn't be better timed for a community who feel somewhat under siege at the moment.

It might be the first time Leitrim have fielded at this level although the County did pick up a couple of 'Special' U16 & Minor All-Ireland crowns in the eighties but for a sport that feels under siege, even within its own county, last Saturday's triumph couldn't have come at a more timely moment and hopefully it will be the launching pad for the County Senior side for years to come.

There have been a few barbs from the hurling community since Saturday's success about the now abandoned plans to remove a particular set of counties, including Leitrim, from National League hurling and it's hard to blame them when your very existence is being threatened. Hurling in Leitrim is fighting for its very survival with some within their own organisation leading the charge against them it seems.

Many will counter that the U20s only won two games to lift an All-Ireland title but nobody complained a few weeks ago when our Ladies footballers played one game to win a Connacht Intermediate crown or when our Junior Men's footballers fielded virtually a second string Senior Inter-county  team against teams comprised of  Intermediate and Junior players to taste provincial glory and reach All-Ireland finals.

Hurling is a minority sport in these parts, no escaping that fact, but the debate over where the game is going in the Lory Meagher and Nicky Rackard counties is driven more by financial arguments than anything else and we're all told, almost religiously, that the GAA is a organisation with a community ethos, not driven by cold hard figures on a balance sheet but by a desire to promote Irish culture.

THE LAST POINT: DEALING WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS

There is nothing more Irish than hurling and there is a valid point about  the insane rising costs of the inter-county fare but if we're going to do that, it can't just be the easy target of hurling in isolation but everything from Senior inter-county football right through to development squads.

Hurling will never attain the popularity that  football has in Leitrim but to take that idea to its logical conclusion, what would we do if Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Wexford, Clare, Antrim and Limerick, all predominantly hurling counties, joined Kilkenny in failing to field an inter-county football team, all counties that Leitrim have played in League football in the last ten years? 

There's a debate to be had, certainly, but right now, the only thing to do is to celebrate what Leitrim hurlers achieved against all the odds, a fitting reward for this county's hurling community for keeping their dreams alive!