Sean just picked his spot and went for it on Mohill's dramatic Connacht Gold SFC winning penalty

Sean Harkin was the man with thousands of eyes upon him last Saturday evening in the gathering dusk in Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin as he lined up to take the decisive pick in the penalty shootout that saw Mohill retain the Fenagh Cup for the first time in their history.

After successful penalties from Keith Beirne, Domhnaill Flynn and Shane Quinn, Sean successfully completed  the task of closing out the shootout after extra-time had failed to separate Mohill and Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins in the replay of the 2024 Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final.

It is not something that you can exactly prepare for, is it? “Ah no, I don't think you can prepare for that now,” Sean told the Observer as Mohill’s celebrations continued around him on the pitch, “Especially a replay, a draw and then a draw after extra time. Like Jesus, you couldn't write it.”

Did the enormity of what was before him ever come into his mind, the destination of the Fenagh Cup down to his kick: “To be honest, I just picked a spot. I kind of have a favourite side so I suppose I just picked that spot and went for it. 

“To be honest, once they missed their first penalty, I think the pressure kind of went more on them so it kind of eased the pressure on us. You could afford to miss one so that's what I was thinking.”

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Mostly, the feeling was one of relief as Ballinamore threatened to end Mohil’s bid to retain the title for the first time. “ Yeah, it's massive luck. We've had a few chances to do it and we fail every time. I’m just very relieved to finally do it and hopefully just keep kicking on. This won't be it, you know. 

“There were periods there in the second half, I think the fans probably thought we had it wrapped up but we like to make it hard on ourselves. Ballinamore just came back from nowhere twice so you have to just keep focused on the next ball and if you take your eye off that, you're not going to win the game.”

As for entering the history books as the scorer of the winning penalty in the first ever Leitrim Senior championship final, Sean laughs as he says “Yeah, didn't think I'd own that record now.”