THE LAST POINT: Shell-shock and delight in 24 hours

Shell-shock is a good way to describe what your average Green & Gold fan endured last Saturday in Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin because, despite not having lived through an artillery barrage, thank God, what Laois did to Leitrim was the sporting equivalent of getting blown to bits over and over and over again.

That's fairly dramatic language but you only had to look at the ashen faces and shaking heads of Leitrim fans to understand that what they witnessed on Saturday was almost a form of trauma - and that from a fan base long used to rough days down through the years. You know it is bad when one supporter  sympathised with me, of all people, long after the final whistle, his concern expressed in the words 'I don't know how you are going to write about that'!

To be honest, I was almost going to avoid the topic of the Laois game in this column, the notion of trying to find the words to express how we all felt after the 23 point trimming inflicted  by Laois seemingly an impossible task. So if I'm feeling this way, someone whose job it is to be objective and analytical, I can't imagine how the players, Steven Poacher and his management team are feeling.

It seems trite to muse that the three early goals from Laois changed the game completely but as much as it is clutching at straws, it is undeniably true. Justin McNulty spoke afterwards about how nervous his team were coming to Ballinamore, particularly as they've also been decimated by injuries and retirements, but had Jordan Reynolds' fisted effort found the net right after the first Laois goal, we will never know what might have transpired after that.

I wrote last week about how Barry McNulty is becoming a 'Declan Maxwell' sort of figure, an inspirational presence to his teammates and those cheering on the team and if anything, his importance to the team was only magnified - if that is possible -  in his absence last Saturday.

THE LAST POINT: SEARCHING FOR HOPE ON A GRIM DAY

Telling the players to shake the defeat off seems an exercise in futility, particularly when a rejuvenated Kildare are coming to town this Sunday and, given the scale of player departures and injuries, we always knew in our heart of hearts that this Division 3 campaign could be an ugly one. But I'm not sure we expected what we got last Saturday in Ballinamore and all we can do now is give these young players our support and hope that it leads to better days.

If that sounds fanciful,  maybe it is because I'm a dreamer in my heart. Or maybe it is because you have hope when you hear of the Minor team shipping three goals in five minutes down in Portlaoise on Saturday against Laois in the Leinster Minor League only to win the game 2-17 to 4-6 after trailing by ten points at the break.

More remarkably, that was achieved without the St Clare's contingent who created a slice of history on Friday evening in Enniscrone by defeating a highly regarded Gortnor Abbey to win the Mezzino Connacht PPS Senior C title, the first Leitrim boys team to win a Senior Provincial title since Ballinamore CS did it back in 2014.

They achieved it with skill, they achieved it with resolve and in Shane Ward, we probably have a criminally neglected coaching talent in the county. His stint with the Seniors didn't go the way he wanted but his work this year with St Clare's and the Leitrim Schools team promises to bear heavy fruit in the years to come.

That's where Leitrim football lies at the moment - between the highs of our underage teams becoming far more competitive and ambitious and our Senior men's team going through a rough time but that might just be the story of Leitrim sport down through the years.

The contrast between Enniscrone and Ballinamore was only heightened on Saturday evening at the Leitrim Sports Star Awards, superbly organised as always by the Leitrim Sports Partnership, and if you needed any convincing of the fine margins in sport, the variety of nominees and the scale of their achievements was something to behold but, as many of them admitted, it is a mighty fine line between joy and despair.

The best illustration of that was the contribution of special guest Sanita Pušpure who gave a fascinating insight into what drove her to be as good as she was, winning two World Rowing titles and a host of European medals. For someone as driven and as accomplished as Pušpure, you got a very real sense of what it takes to reach the very top, the sacrifice and trials that each and every successful athlete endures.

You may have missed it but a few weeks ago, Sanita did Irish sport an enormous service when she told her story about the perils of a High Performance environment that pushes an athlete to the  breaking point. As sport becomes ever more commodified and commercialised, Sanita reminded us that the person, the athlete, has got to come first -  a point that can be equally made when the criticism is flying about our Leitrim  teams.

Being completely honest and raw is something we've veered away from but Sanita's words, both on Saturday and in that Irish Independent article a few weeks ago, remind us of the enormous sacrifices these young athletes are making, mentally as well as physically, and the toll it extracts from them.

What motivates a team is not ridicule but something more intrinsic, maybe as simple as trying to beat your brother as Eddie Leddy told the audience on Saturday,  his first motivation was to get the better of his brother PJ in a race. Look where that very basic and human motivation took him - to a legendary career, a new life in America and Olympic Games in Munich and Montreal and finally to a long overdue and most deserved recognition in the Leitrim Sports Star Hall of Fame.

Eddie's tale tells us that every success story starts somewhere small and modest and while it doesn't look like it at the moment, we don't know where the story of the Leitrim Men's football team will end up. We're enduring a bit of shell-shock now but who knows, in a few years, the shell shock might be caused by joy and success!

THE LATE MICHAEL COLEMAN

Last weekend brought a terrible reminder that as bad as it looks when things don’t go our way in the sporting arena, it pales into insignificance in the face of real loss, a point brought home in crushing fashion by the news that former Galway Hurling All Star and Leitrim coach Michael Coleman had passed away after a tragic accident on Friday. 

The late Michael Coleman pictured with Martin Cunniffe as they celebrate Leitrim's epic extra-time win over Lancashire in the 2019 Lory Meagher Cup Final Picture: Willie Donnellan 

I hadn't heard the news until the minute's silence before Saturday's game in Ballinamore so to say it was a bolt from the blue is completely understating it. I didn't know Michael well, just from his involvement with Leitrim but I remember watching him with Galway in the late 80s, his brilliance capturing my imagination and I know the impact he had on the Leitrim team that won the Lory Meagher Cup just five years ago. 

It is incredibly sad to think that of the four man management team that led Leitrim hurlers into those great days, Michael has joined Paddy O'Connor and Paddy Phelan in their eternal rewards. To Michael's family, his many friends and all those who knew him, my deepest sympathy on their terrible loss. May Michael Rest In Peace.