A reluctant speaker off the pitch, Leitrim's Michelle Guckian’s actions speak loud on the field

For a woman who dreads interviews, Michelle Guckian has a knack for finding just the right words to describe Leitrim’s journey to the TG4 LGFA All-Ireland Intermediate Final, striking just the right tone ahead of Sunday’s Croke Park clash with Tyrone when she proclaims she and her teammates are “Confident - but not cocky!”

The Kiltubrid player has been one of the talismanic figures for Leitrim ladies football for quite a few years but Michelle credits manager Jonny Garrity for his instilling the belief in this current Leitrim squad. 

Asked what keeps her coming back after some soul destroying set-backs in recent years, Michelle admitted that giving it all up had crossed her mind in the past: “That definitely crosses your mind every year, of course it does but talking to Jonny on the phone at the end of every year, he is a man with great words to reel you back in.”

Describing Garrity’s enthusiasm as “absolutely contagious”, Michelle expounds “Past management teams have obviously been very good, you’re not going to take over a team if you don’t believe you can do something with them but Jonny just takes that to the next level, he is brilliant. Himself and Dermot are continuously smiling and the belief that they have in us. 

“Of course we have some sort of belief in ourselves but that has been upped massively over the last two years with Jonny, Dermot and Fergal this year. They boost the morale every day you come training - they make you want to come back for more and that is the biggest part of the whole thing.”

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Resilience in a central theme when discussing this Leitrim team as they have overcome a ridiculously small panel of just 25 players to reach All-Ireland Final day: “The resilience and the bond that this team has is massive, I must have said it a million times about such a small panel but we are such a tight knit group.

“We have had so many tough experiences over the last few years between League Finals and semi finals, losing out literally by a point and so on. The last few games we only won by a point or two so we’ve had a few tight games alright. But the tight games  come down to our own management in that we know what we need to do and how we need to do it.

“ I know we leave it to the last minute sometimes but it shows the amount of time and energy the management have put into this team, that we are confident in ourselves and confident in what we have to do.”

Those late game winning heroics wouldn’t be possible if the players haven’t bought into the message Garrity has preached as the Leitrim captain references the semi-final win over Wexford: “You could see the girls at the very end just cramping, the buy-in from all the players is what has got us this far. 

“Every player wants to be here, every player wants to be there for the teammate beside them and every player is pushing each other on from one to 25, they’re pushing on to try to get the jersey. Of course it is hard, there are two mothers on the team and it is hard for them to leave their kids at home and come out and train. But they find a way because they want to be here and that pushes us on because if they can be here, the rest of us can be here 100%.”

Leading Leitrim out onto the field and around the parade is a huge personal honour but Michelle's concentration is very much on delivering a victory: “Obviously it is my time up in Croke Park to walk out onto that pitch and of course it will be a dream come true. It will be a great day and a great occasion but at the end of the day, we’re there to do a job - we have to put all that to the back of our heads until the end of the game and work hard for 60, 70 minutes.”

Michelle’s own career has seen her go from goalkeeper to goal scorer and everywhere in between but that is the strength of this Leitrim squad: “As long as you’re on the field and taking part, it is a huge thing. It is just the thing we are doing at the moment - you are expected to do everything. There is just not one single role as you can see - the backs are bombing forwards, the forwards are getting back into defence and there is no set position on our team because everyone is filling every role.”

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Tyrone pose a significant challenge and Michelle is fully aware of the task facing the Green & Gold: “Tyrone are a magnificent team and without a doubt, they have some magnificent players. They are building year on year since 2018 when they were in the All-Ireland. They are pushing on again, they want to be back up in the Senior ranks no more than us and it will be one of the toughest challenges that we face but it is one that we are looking forward to and looking for a good battle and we hope that we can give it to them.”

Leitrim scored a dramatic 4-12 to 5-8 victory over Tyrone in the opening game of the championship what happened in Ballinamore will have no bearing on events in Croke Park: “Personally I don’t think it will play much of a role in it. We know it was a nip and tuck game - we missed shots, they missed shots, they’re going to be kicking themselves for that, we’re kicking ourselves for things.

“I don’t think it will play a role, we’re going to go out on the day and it is going to be the better team that wins and please God, it will be us.”