THE LAST POINT: Calm finally descends after the storm

Ahead of the posse in August; behind an eight ball in early October, Leitrim footballers can finally enjoy their supposed off-season down time with a small degree of greater certainty with the news that Steven Poacher is set to be appointed as the new manager of the Men's County Senior team.

Normally, I'd just type 'has been appointed' as the new manager of the Green & Gold, in fact I think I wrote those very words back when Mickey Graham was announced in early August as the new boss so you'll forgive me if I'm just a tiny bit circumspect given the events of the past month.

But this time of year is all about renewal and hope - the clocks have gone back, the leaves are falling prodigiously, evenings are getting shorter, the days are getting colder and players, managers and fans in every corner of the country are starting to dream again, consigning the past to the dustbin as they muse that this year is going to be our year. 

First of all, welcome Steven Poacher and everyone with Leitrim in their heart will wish him and his  management team well. The Down man has a reputation as a defensive specialist but that might not be a bad thing, given that the All-Ireland Final was a dour defensive structure battle and the Tailteann Cup was won by a Poacher's native county, again a team with a defensive reputation.

With the new season and new playing rules fast approaching, it was important that an appointment was made quickly and efficiently. Haste may have been in the mind of most people but it was important that the right person was got for the job and in fairness, the County Board appears to have delivered on both counts.

THE LAST POINT: NO URGENCY IN NEW RULES DEBATE

It can't have been easy to go looking for a new manager after Mickey Graham stepped away, apparently informing officials on the morning of the drawn Connacht Gold SFC Final on October 6, that he was resigning from the job without a ball being kicked in anger or a training session being held.

Imagine that - you've got TG4 cameras down to broadcast the showpiece event of the Leitrim Club season, hundreds of fans due to descend on Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin rather than the traditional Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada and all the change and chaos that comes with a big occasion and then you get landed with the news that your marquee signing as manager is walking away and there is  nothing you can do? Don't know about you but I'd be floored.

I've thought long and hard about Graham's departure and what words I'd choose and even now, almost a month since the news, I'm still conflicted - first and foremost, you can't make someone do a job they don't want to and managing a County team is all consuming, some reckoning that you could spend up to 40 hours a week on something that is supposedly a hobby and voluntary.

I don't know Graham's reasons for leaving Leitrim bar the statement that was issued to announce the news. The phrase 'circumstances beyond his control' may not have been penned by him but the optics of rocking up to Galway and joining Padraic Joyce's management team certainly stings and it's fair to say that the Cavan man's reputation has taken a bit of a hit in certain quarters after the Observer last week broke the news of his impending appointment.

Galway's County Board insist that there was no, to use the parlance of professional soccer across the water, tapping up of Graham while he was still Leitrim manager by the Tribesmen but his involvement with Connacht, as a Leitrim representative, under Padraic Joyce for the Inter Provincial series has left more than a few people sceptical.

Managers, no more than players who decide to take a year out to go travelling or simply remove themselves mid-season from a panel because they're not getting game time or not enjoying their football, are free to commit and not to commit as they see fit - again, in the GAA, it is a voluntary commitment to excellence so if your circumstances changes, so be it - it is a fact of life.

But what I will say is that if you make the commitment, there is an expectation that you live up to it -or to put it more bluntly, if you are in, you are all in. If that means a  Spartan lifestyle featuring onerous pre-dawn training sessions, drinking bans, endless team meetings, missing out on family events and holidays,  that is the price of committing to something greater than yourself and countless men and women do it without an ounce of the hullabaloo that greets the exploits of inter-county  teams.

Some, without foundation or any particular knowledge from inside and outside the county, have thrown out theories that Graham wasn't getting what he wanted from the County Board or that players weren't committing to the cause for 2025 but from what I understand, it was  known what players were heading off travelling before his appointment was made in August and I haven't heard of the County Board failing to meet the needs of any manager in my time with the Observer.

I will add that I'm delighted to see Barry McWeeney appointed to the U20 role and Mohill's Danny Beck & Ciaran Kennedy take on the Minors - three great servants of Leitrim football with solid experience and great knowledge so that is a huge plus and I know St Michael's, guided by the Mohill lads to a Roscommon Junior title last year, were sorry to see them go.

THE LAST POINT: WHAT A WEEKEND OF DRAMA & GLORY

Interestingly, Ciaran Kennedy follows his brother Sean in managing the Minors, Sean doing so maybe 20 years ago so that is quite a first! Ciaran & Danny and Barry McWeeney have a lot of potential on their hands if the performances of Glencar Manorhamilton & St Patrick's Dromahair in the Connacht Club MFC and last Wednesday's Corn Breifne Final is anything to go by.

Like I said, it is that time of year for optimism - some players will depart, some are struggling with long term injuries but the first dividends from the restructuring of underage football in the county and quality coaching is starting to be seen on the playing pitches. Nobody can deny the exciting talents coming through the ranks and delivering on that talent is the challenge Steven Poacher, Barry, Danny & Ciaran now face - we wish them well in their endeavours.

Finally,  congratulations to Leitrim's magnificent seven on their TG4 LGFA Team of the IFC Awards they received last Friday in Croke Park - my only complaint? That there should have been at least two more on the team but maybe I'm just getting greedy!