New manager Poacher aiming to give football mad Leitrim a team to support

Steven Poacher isn’t in the hotseat very long but already the new manager of the Green & Gold men’s senior football team can tell you that Leitrim folk are football mad and he wants to give them a team they can really get behind.

In a press briefing ahead of the start of the Allianz NFL Division 3 campaign, which gets underway against Laois on Saturday January 25, Steven was asked what was his impression of Leitrim since he took over and his answer was simple: “The first thing I noticed was they are football mad. 

“I'll give you a quick story,” Steven continued, “I took the daughter down to watch the intermediate final last year. She wanted to watch Tyrone play Leitrim in the Intermediate ladies final and the senior final was on after it and Leitrim had the biggest support there out of all the four counties. You're sort of thinking to yourself, now that was the ladies, football mad people.”

Poacher had done a coaching course in Leitrim before and immediately stressed the advantages Leitrim have in terms of enthusiasm and facilities: “I was here about five, six years ago, I did a bit of coaching education with the development squad coaches here about five or six years ago.

“Enda Lyons and Sean Gallagher, guys like that who were involved in the development squads and involved in development in Leitrim at that time, great people. I came in through the Centre of Excellence, now the Centre of Excellence has fairly improved since I've been here.

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“The pitches are in much better order than the time I was down here about five, six years ago, but this building we're standing in, we don't have a Centre of Excellence like this in my own County. You have a piece of the jigsaw already in place, you have a base, you have a home, a good gym in there, a good structure, there's plenty of visuals around the place. 

“It's a proud county. When we came through the door, myself, Anthony, Ryan, Daniel and Paddy, we've got a brilliant backroom team, and we've been made to feel so welcome, so, so, so friendly.”

And the new Leitrim manager vowed to give Leitrim fans a team to get behind: “One of the things that struck me straight away was they're just craving a team to really follow and support. 

“Hopefully the people in Leitrim understand that this is a young squad and they want to be here because they want to play for Leitrim and that's the big thing. You want lads who want to be here and want to play for Leitrim, and long may that continue.”