THE LAST POINT: Testing the hearts of Leitrim fans

Not sure if I need a cardiac screening after last Sunday's TG4 LGFA All Ireland Intermediate Semi Final in Parnell Park - certainly the heart got a good workout in the final frantic minutes of added time as the Green & Gold Ladies deservedly, if somewhat shakily, booked their place in the All-Ireland Final.

The dramatic final moments as Wexford transformed from a team that were over-run everywhere but on the scoreboard by a dominant Leitrim to a team that looked unstoppable in the final ten minutes had even the calmest of Leitrim supporters on edge and when the Model County won a free nearly six minutes into added time, extra-time looked a certainty.

But in sport, there are no certainties - Leitrim may have kicked twice the wides Wexford did but the Leinster side had more grievous misses, hitting three or four scoreable frees wide, missing a late goal chance and driving two late points over the bar when the goal was definitely on. And if the game had gone to extra-time, you'd have fancied Wexford to complete the job  against a Leitrim team who seemed to run out of steam down the final stretch.

Yet that would have been tantamount to daylight robbery for Leitrim were vastly superior on the day. Wexford will feel they never got going but that's because Leitrim never let them, Jonny Garrity's side was  ferocious in the tackle and immense in their unstinting commitment to the cause - ironically for a team laden down with attacking talent, it was a dose of the yips in attack that almost ended their dreams.

Fortune favoured Leitrim too as the  sin-binning for Aisling Halligan robbed Wexford of their chief defensive bulwark and in the gap left by their centre-back, Leitrim poured through to score 2-2. Orla Flynn, immense on the day, was fortunate to escape a yellow late on but that is down to the inconsistency of referees - both challenges almost carbon copy affairs when a player with the ball charged into an opponent.

THE LAST POINT: ROMAN WONDERS A REAL INSPIRATION

These are the small margins on which  games are won or lost  - Leitrim got the decision but over the course of the  contest, there was not one scintilla of doubt that the better team eventually emerged with the victory and even the Wexford media, supporters and their magnanimous manager Lizzy Kent acknowledged that.

I'm not superstitious but even I was wondering  if fate was on Leitrim's side - there were 18 years between the All-Ireland Junior Final win in Croke Park in 1988 and the Intermediate Final appearance in 2006 and here we were, 18 years later, facing Wexford for a place back on the biggest day in the Ladies football calendar.

Leitrim lost that decider against Sligo 18 years ago but returned a year later to defeat Wexford (hey superstition) in the first ever Intermediate Final and lifted the Mary Quinn Cup in the process. Ann Marie Cox played in Leitrim's two All-Ireland triumphs, spanning almost two decades and superstition or fate comes into play again as here we are, in 2024, witnessing Charlene Tyrell, a member of the 2007 team, at the heart of the team last Sunday! Maybe superstition isn't such nonsense after all!

FAREWELL JOHNNO

Can't let this column pass without mentioning the extraordinary John O'Mahony, forever known as Johnno to the Class of '94, who passed away on Sunday week last. On the boat back from England when the news came through and amidst the shock and sadness was the realisation that Johnno was a genuine giant of gaelic football, a status evident by the enormous queues of people who turned up in Ballaghaderreen to pay tribute to a legend of Leitrim, Mayo and Galway football.

The shock came from the fact that I was chatting to him barely two months ago at the Connacht U20 Shield Final in Philly McGuinness Park, still showing the same insight into the game that he loved so much. There has been plenty of debate as to O'Mahony's greatest achievement - reawakening Mayo's sleeping giant in 1989 or guiding a golden generation of Galway greats to two All-Irelands? 

Here in Leitrim, that debate does not exist as he transformed a team who were knocking on the door  for three years and turned them into Leitrim legends in 1994. O'Mahony's greatest gift may be in turning Leitrim's mindset around but he was also ahead of his time, utilising the mysterious Bill Cogan to work on his team's mindset and mining the knowledge of prominent athletics coach Jim Kilty as he sought an extra inch to propel his teams across the line.

THE LAST POINT: BORING CONSISTENCY THE KEY TO PROGRESS

He also knew how to crack the whip at training sessions! I remember leaving Cloone on a Summer's evening in 1993 telling Willie Donnellan that Leitrim were going to beat Galway in the championship that year, something that hadn’t been done since 1949 - all thanks to what we witnessed Johnno putting his troops through that evening, a bygone era when members of the press could rock up to and watch an inter-county training session.

I could write thousands of words paying tribute to Johnno and far better wordsmiths than me have already done that. All that remains to say is that everyone with Leitrim in their heart remains eternally grateful to Johnno and what he did for the Green & Gold. 

To his wife Geraldine, always at his side and as much a part of the Leitrim success in those years as anyone, his daughters, family and many, many friends, I'd like to offer my deepest condolences on their great loss. We may never see the likes of Johnno again. May John Rest In Peace.

ANDY’S SHOCK DEPARTURE

Not sure I'll be allowed to take holidays again after the news broke that Andy Moran was stepping down as the manager of the Leitrim Men's Senior  team. Sitting in a hotel room in Salisbury was a strange place to get the unexpected and frankly shocking news that came like a bolt from the blue.

From chatting with Andy after Leitrim's Tailteann Cup defeat at the hands of Wicklow, I expected the former Footballer of the Year to continue on in the role not only for next year but maybe the next two or three! Certainly,  interviews Moran gave only the week before gave that impression so to hear he was departing was quite a shock.

Moran had a few vocal critics but there is no doubting that Leitrim advanced significantly in terms of strength & conditioning and organisational structures during his term and there looks to be a core of young players ready to emerge onto the Senior team. But perhaps the reports that a few of the older, more experienced players are taking a year out next year prompted the change of heart.

Whatever the reason, maybe the realisation that it might take a few tough years to bed in this new generation, Moran's departure is a blow. The hunt is on for a new manager and whispers suggest Mickey Graham has been approached - that would be a logical choice, continuity and familiarity with the set-up. It is a big decision and one that should not be rushed.

But we should wish Andy Moran well for what he has done for Leitrim football - the county was on its knees after a record defeat in Castlebar and he re-ignited the passion of both fans and players so good luck to him in whatever future endeavours he undertakes.