Leitrim manager Steven Poacher launches passionate defence after "perfect storm" of circumstances

Describing it as a “perfect storm” of circumstances, a defiant Steven Poacher defended the decision for Leitrim to concede last Sunday’s Allianz NFL Division 3 clash with Fermanagh, passionately arguing that the county had a duty of care to their young footballers. With a whirlwind of comment and social media commentary, Leitrim’s decision to hand a walkover to their neighbours has been roundly criticised but the Green & Gold manager launched a stout defence of the decision, arguing that it was not a decision taken lightly by anyone involved.

“It was a very, very difficult, tough decision to make,” Steven told the Observer, “Obviously, it's not a decision that I make myself personally, it's a decision that involves a lot of parties - our management team, medical team, the county board, the players and everybody's views are taken into account, but just to make the decision, it wasn't easy. 

“A very difficult weekend for everyone - you don’t know if you are doing the right thing by putting out 15, 16 players, three of whom are not fully fit. That's where we are and I think that the fact that we only named 21 players against Offaly is a strong indication of how thin the squad had got from an injury perspective.”

The Down teacher also defended Leitrim from claims that they should have been aware of the injury situation much sooner and drafted in club players: “No goalkeeper - people say we knew about the goalkeeper but we didn’t know about it. We knew Sean had a concussion,  we didn’t know Brian wouldn’t be available and we only found out on Friday when we got to training that Daire was concussed and that’s the truth. 

“An uncanny set of circumstances and people on the outside looking in ....  it's very easy for  empty vessels to make the most noise, plenty of begrudgers roaring and shouting ' why can't they do this, why can't they do that' but I can tell you, the timeframe we had to make decisions, it was not kind to us and that's the reality of the situation.

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“The biggest thing here is the timing of it - people think we were sitting for two weeks knowing that this situation was going to arise - we didn't. We felt we'd be in a similar situation as we were against Offaly when we named 21 players  in the programme. That was very evident for everyone to see, that wasn't some sort of publicity stunt, it was the reality of the situation.

“That's where we were against Offaly two weeks ago, the situation didn't improve from an injury point of view and then you're hit with a blow then of the U20s not going to be available and that's just more or less where we stood then. Losing the goalkeepers on top of that, it was just the perfect storm.

“We were going into the game with 13 players that were probably fit to play with one or two that were genuinely carrying knocks going into the game. You had three players on top of that who were coming back from long-term injuries. Take Cillian McGloin for example, I don't think people appreciate the journey that Cillian has been on.

“I'll give you a little insight, I think it's worth being on the record with this, people don't appreciate what Cillian McGloin does. He is a Garda, he may work a night shift from seven o'clock at night to seven o'clock the next morning and he lands in Annaduff on a Sunday morning for a training session at 11 o'clock with three hours sleep or maybe not even any sleep.

“Cillian is making a massive commitment to the county but it's taken him 14 months to get back on the field. Do we jeopardise that man's return? You're asking him  to go out in a senior inter-county game against Fermanagh and ask him to play the guts of 50, 60 minutes - it's absolute madness, it wouldn't happen in professional sport, never mind amateur sport.

“These lads all have work to go to and I think we have to really look at this and take a step back from the emotional thing. Emotion is great and people think with their hearts, not their head, and they rush in - ‘why could that game not be fulfilled’ and ‘there must be a way about doing it’ but we've got to factor all these things into the equation.

“It's not straightforward -  we had a panel of 33, 34 players but we lost two of those to a long-term injury. Then we've lost Adam Reynolds, we've lost Barry McNulty, we're probably down to a panel of 28, 29, but we didn't foresee the fact that we would lose so many players in such a short space of time in the  League.”

The Leitrim manager won't let the criticism deflect him from his work with the Green & Gold: “We had a brilliant session Sunday morning, every single available player was there, even some the U20s - we've given them the grace of being with their own group and every single one of those lads put their shoulder to the wheel Sunday morning. Great camaraderie, great spirit, they're a great bunch of young men.

"I really enjoy travelling to Annaduff three nights a week, I really enjoy going down the road, I enjoy working with these young men. I've worked with young people all my life in my profession as well, 24 years a teacher, 16 years a senior county coach - I've seen it all, I've heard it all and to be honest with you, nothing phases me in that respect.

“People on the outside are irrelevant, it's what's inside that room and it's the people that are in the arena that really matter to me. When you get messages from other inter-county managers and other inter-county coaches, people that are respected in the game, they're the opinions I take.”

In fact, Poacher is strongly of the opinion that the tempest they are charting a path through  will stand to this young Leitrim squad: “After some of the results this year, in particular the Laois and Kildare games, the lads have come through that stronger. The resilience they showed against an Offaly team that is now sitting clear at the top of division 3, it shows you that the lads can compete with the best in the division.

"But it is just taking time to really get to know the group, it is taking time to obviously get the personnel on the field that we wanted to get on the field, but we've just been absolutely crucified with injuries.

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“I don't think there's another county in the country that has the injury issues we have and again, it goes back to the point that this did not happen last week, this happened last summer when a group of players were left to wither on the vine for a couple of months, and then all of a sudden we come in and we're trying to assemble a complete new panel.

“A number of players were maybe sitting on the fence, that maybe weren't sure if they were going to commit or not - no contact from anybody, no figurehead, no manager. I'm not making excuses but the reality of the situation is when we came in, we were starting a brand new panel from scratch and it was very difficult, first and foremost, to even get a panel of players.

“You are getting a panel of players that are extremely inexperienced or being exposed to county football for the first time. It feels as if I'm a broken record talking about this but I don't think people actually fully grasp and understand the demands of inter-county football - I think that's the big crux of this is that we have a group of very, young and inexperienced players who are doing their best, but unfortunately, we've been crippled by injuries and that's the reality.”