Poacher's goal is not three weeks time but three years time as plans to bring Leitrim players through

Steven Poacher has admitted that it will take a concerted effort over three years to bring Leitrim up to the standard he requires to be competitive after the Green & Gold suffered a second consecutive 23 point loss in the Allianz NFL Division 3.

Kildare won Sunday's clash 1-27 to 0-7 in Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin and Poacher believes that he regards Leitrim as a three-year project: “That's the best team we will probably play all year and that's the reality. Kildare are not a division 3 team, they're a division 1 team - I said this going into the game, they should be contesting Leinster titles. We're not at that right now.

“Our goal is not three weeks or three months time, our goal is three years and to bring these young fellas through. I'm going to be totally honest with you. Do I feel we are where we should be physically? No, and I think one of the reasons for that is that we lost probably a month and a half at the start of the year in October November.

“You've got to be fit and I look at my own county here down and I look at the size of them, they're small but Conor Laverty has got them unbelievably fit so they can make those 21 to 21 yard runs on a regular basis for 70 minutes.

“We can't do that right now so therefore it's going to take us another year to install that real level, where I want us to be. We will be, hopefully, more in 2026 of where I want us to be physically and I'm not talking to the S&C.”

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The Leitrim manager stressed that he was not referring to Strength & Conditioning but rather to Leitrim’s ability to repeatedly cover ground at high pace: “S&C is a completely different thing - I'm talking about our running power. Our running power needs to improve and for your running power to improve, you need to work hard, you need to train hard.

“You need to have a good November, you need to have a good October, a good December. We were training with 12-13 boys in November and that's not going to keep you in Division 3, it's not going to get you out of division 4.

“It's simply not and that has to change. That has to change that when lads are out of their club championship, they're back in their S&C, they back running hard after a few weeks and that's the reality. If you want to be beautiful, you have to suffer and if we want this team to play with a real high energy and a real vigour, they have to be physically seriously fit and their running power has to be through the roof.

“To get there obviously takes time so the message to these lads is just to keep sticking it out.”