THE LAST POINT: A new world for Leitrim Ladies

After what seemed like an interminable wait, Leitrim fans will finally be able to get their fix of gaelic football action next Sunday when the County's All-Ireland Intermediate Championship winning Ladies team take on their neighbours and All-Ireland Junior Champions Fermanagh in the opening game of the Lidl LGFA National League.

I realise that many of you probably assumed I was referring to the start of the men's Allianz NFL but first up, it is the women's turn to set their stall out for 2025 and after what seemed like an eon ago, Leitrim teams will take to the playing fields once more in search of glory.

By my count, and not including the various school teams contesting their own competitions, there hasn't been a game in the county since mid November when Mohill pitted themselves against Padraig Pearses in the Connacht Club Championship - in terms of days and weeks, that's just nine weeks or a little over two months but it seems a lifetime ago.

Leitrim Schools team have blazed a trail through the Connacht PPS Senior A grade, qualifying for the semi-finals fixed for next Wednesday, January 22, but when it comes to getting your dose of gaelic football, well the last two months have been fallow ground for those who live and breadth the game.

Many in need of a fix would have followed the  exploits of Coolera Strandhill and former St Mary's and Leitrim footballer Jonathan Cassidy as if the Sligo team were one of their own and certainly the evergreen 'Cass' didn't look out of place last Saturday in the All-Ireland Club Semi-Final, Cuala winning after a right battle.

THE LAST POINT: A YEAR NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN

Speaking of the Connacht Club, it would be remiss of me not to mention Joey Bird and put right an inadvertent mistake on my part - in this column a few weeks ago, I speculated that the former St Mary's Kiltoghert man may have been the first Leitrim man to win a Connacht Senior Club medal. I did preface it by writing “may” and adding “I'm not 100% sure of that” but even as I was penning the column, I thought 'I'm bound to be missing someone here!' and, unlike my pre-match predictions, I was right!

Joey himself dropped me an email to, in the most polite terms, reveal  that he had done the same with the great St Mary's team from Sligo town in 1983! A Dromahair native, Joey lined out with the Sligo town team in five County Finals in a row, winning four Sligo titles and the Provincial crown. They reached the Connacht Final again in 1984 where the great Clann na Gael team prevailed.

And to prove that all life is local, Joey's teammate Mick Laffey is actually Jonathan Cassidy's father in law! Anyway long story short, Joey's great achievement came long before I joined the Observer but it would be remiss of me not to mention it and congratulate Joey on his place in the annals of Leitrim football.

One group very much forging their own place in the annals of Leitrim sporting history is the County Ladies football team and next Sunday, they start back into League football the same as any other year. But in 2025, Jonny Garrity's side will have a target on their back and  dreaded expectations heaped upon them.

I could write a thesis about Leitrim teams and expectations, how the County's teams struggle when anointed as favourites, much happier to go in as underdogs. They're not alone in that - I'd say only the Kerrys or Dubs of this world embrace their status as favourites without any qualms but it is a position the Ladies team are going to have to get used to in 2025.

Of the 12 teams who will contest the 2025 TG4 All-Ireland Senior championship, all, bar Leitrim, are playing their League football in the top two tiers while Tyrone, famously beaten twice in 2024 by the Green & Gold, will be plying their trade in the top flight - so I guess that makes Leitrim raging hot favourites for Division 4 so!

Naturally, such a confident pronouncement is going to get the skin of Leitrim Ladies fans crawling but knowing Jonny Garrity and this Leitrim squad, winning Division 4 is probably the least they expect and they will absolutely relish the challenge ahead of them.

That won't be as easy as it might look - the loss of Elise & Kasey Bruen, Orla Flynn and Aine Redican robs Leitrim of four of their most powerful engines, players who got up and down the field  tirelessly - Leitrim are going to miss that as the extra bodies solidified the defence and their hard running left oceans of space for Devaney, Clancy, Guckian and Fox to exploit upfront and boy, did they exploit it!

Off-setting that is the return of Dearbhaile Beirne and Emma Guckian to strengthen an already frightening forward line, although trying to fit all that attacking talent in is a headache the manager will enjoy, while the addition of 16 players  to the squad gives Garrity the luxury of players to choose from. Leitrim had by far the smallest panel in the competition last year but Garrity made that apparent weakness a strength as Leitrim played like a club team.

THE LAST POINT: EOIN GALLAGHER LOOKS BACK OVER HECTIC 2024 SPORTING YEAR

As much as Leitrim are, to my mind at least, raging hot favourites, there are a few potential pitfalls lying in wait - Fermanagh were one of two teams to beat Leitrim last year and went on to win the Junior crown and next Sunday's game in Kiltubrid is a clash of the champions, not perhaps the way you'd want to start your league but Garrity can turn that to a positive.

The biggest challenge Leitrim will face is expectations - both their own and external ones. The manner of their All-Ireland victory means they are rightly favoured to emerge from the Division but teams like Fermanagh, Wicklow, Longford and a re-emerging Sligo would relish nothing more than putting a spanner in the works!

But if there is a Leitrim team equipped to rise to the challenge, it is this Ladies squad. There may be a few bumps along the road but the Ladies have proven time and time again that they can get the job done. Wishing them the best of luck as they started their journey in pursuit of long awaited League glory next Sunday!