Shane Foley hangs up his boots after Kiltubrid loss to Melvin Gaels

Kiltubrid football will be a very different place next year after Shane Foley confirmed that after a quarter century in the Green & Red, the former Leitrim star was hanging up his boots following his team’s Smith Monumentals IFC Quarter-Final replay loss to Melvin Gaels last Sunday.

Retirement is always a difficult subject to broach but just as he played all throughout his career, Shane met the question head on when the Observer enquired if Sunday’s 2-18 to 2-10 loss was his last outing: “I think so, John - I think it's time. A man said to me a long time ago 'find the nail in the boiler house' and I said 'what's that for?' and he said ' for your boots'. That was about five, six years ago.

“Look, I'm not going to make any rash decisions but really, you know, being 41 years of age, this year took a lot out of me mentally. Physically I got myself in good shape, but it's mentally tough to keep going to the well year in, year out.”

Having made his adult debut for Kiltubrid back in 1999 and winning a famed Senior title in 2005 as well as appearing in the 2007 Final, Shane’s career was long enough for him to line out alongside his son Jack, now a Leitrim senior footballer like his Dad before him. But for Shane, the key was to park the father-son relationship when they took to the field together!

“It's a pleasure working with him,” said Shane when asked what it was like to play with Jack, “Even last year we worked together as well - we parked the sentiment to be honest. When we put on the jerseys, we're teammates so the two of us drive each other on - it is that sort of relationship. Obviously, it is a unique sort of thing, and I'm proud to be playing football with him - I really enjoyed it.”

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Sunday’s defeat was another edition of close clashes between Kiltubrid and Melvin Gaels: “I think it's eight times we've played them now in the last two years and we're very similar - we're just a dogged, defensively sound sort of bunch and two teams that never give in. 

“Looking back on the game, maybe in the first half there, we should have taken more chances there. We had a black card advantage as well, we should have driven on from there so that's, I suppose, the only regret I would have from the game.”

It was also the third week on the trot for the side’s to meet in the championship so there was nothing the two teams didn’t know about each other: “There was nearly no need to look back on video analysis because we know each other so well,. Look, it was a typical championship game, really, everything was on the line.

“Walking off the field, I don't have any regrets because we literally threw everything at it, we just fell short today, and that's fair play to Melvin Gaels. The scoreboard is flattering to them to be honest, but they got a couple of goals there which added to it, but it was a tight finish the whole way through. That’s the nature of extra time, gaps open up but that wasn't an eight-point game. They just had a bit extra in attack and it paid dividends for them and got the result in the end.”

Yet even for all that, Shane believes Kiltubrid should have no regrets after an excellent display: "It's tough now, but looking back at the previous two, three semi-finals that we got to, we had massive regrets - we didn't turn up and perform. Today we showed up - okay, lacking in quality at times but we gave it everything from the start of the game to the end, and I can't ask for any more after that."

And he sees a bright future for Kiltubrid with good young players coming through: "Absolutely, you saw Karl Winters coming on there at the end and banging one in, Fionn O'Brien is a fantastic player. We're fortunate in Kiltubrid, we're producing quality players all the time, and it's just about knitting the whole thing together, and staying strong. We’ll not go away, Kiltubrid will be back next year again and it's just about building on it, and keeping core players together."