THE LAST POINT: No winners in an impossible situation

One often wonders if we’re doomed to repeat history when it comes to Leitrim gaelic games, the notion that something as dramatic and eye-opening as a County team conceding a walkover is actually something we’ve witnessed before when it comes to the Green & Gold.

The news that Leitrim  conceded Sunday’s Allianz NFL Division 3 clash to neighbours Fermanagh is more than disappointing but I can almost certainly guarantee that it was a decision not taken lightly by anybody involved, be they players, management or County Board. Nevertheless, it is a decision that has hurt a lot of people.

Memes are flying around the place, jokes are being told and there is a growing anger with many feeling that Leitrim has been made a laughing stock of  - one former County Board official rang me Saturday incandescent with rage over the   decision and I'm sure he is not  alone, judging from the feedback I'm hearing.

What's my take? I'd have done everything in my power to have the game played but, having witnessed first hand  what this team is going through, I reckon I have enough empathy to understand why the team management and the County Board took the decision they did, even if it is one I find troubling and deeply disappointing.

Many of those lambasting the decision might have been calling for Leitrim to no longer field a team at inter-county level when Galway and Mayo inflicted record breaking defeats on the Green & Gold in 2021 and 2022 while Andy Moran's decision in not playing Jack Foley & Barry McNulty in the Connacht SFC clash with Sligo last year caught a lot of flak, giving you some idea that no matter what decision was taken, somebody, somewhere would have taken umbrage!

THE LAST POINT: ST CLARE'S CS MANORHAMILTON RISE TO THE OCCASION

I'm not an apologist for Steven Poacher or the County Board, both can speak for themselves but to characterise the events of last weekend as taking the easy road or a lack of courage  is so wrong as to be beyond understanding. If anything, the decision  actually ensured far more criticism and abuse than had Leitrim suffered a 50 point drubbing!

A 50 point defeat sounds improbable but is it? We lost by 23 twice this year alone and this would have meant going into battle without a full-hand. Draft in some enthusiastic club players who have not kicked a ball in anger since last October and won't have actually played a game this year until next Saturday and expect them to cope with the new playing rules and a Fermanagh team who have been hard at work for months would have been a recipe for disaster.

I've covered Leitrim GAA for a long time, lucky enough to witness some of the greatest days in the county's history but I've also witnessed some of the worst - losing to London and New York in the championship, off-field shenanigans and  hammerings aplenty and days when the Leitrim team have literally given up on the field of play - all have been endured and overcome to some degree or another and, after a while, last Sunday's affair will fade. 

To the best of my knowledge, Leitrim have conceded games just three times in my time with the Observer: Armagh 2001, Down 2020 and now Fermanagh in 2025. The last time Leitrim were in Division 3 in 2020, the Green & Gold conceded their second last game of the campaign, giving the points to Down as Leitrim were relegated the following week when losing to Tipperary.

Of course, the circumstances were different - Covid was raging with a virulent outbreak in the Newry area and with an abundance of caution, Leitrim opted to concede, knowing full well that they’d have one final chance to avoid relegation the following week - how does that stack up with competition integrity?

Life in 2020 was very different - players were in isolated bubbles and travelled to games on their own, they were barely allowed across the thresholds of the dressing room and crowds were not permitted to attend games for either League or championship. But as last Sunday, it was a decision made in the best interests of the Leitrim Senior team and was not particularly popular  in Down. 

Prior to that, the last time that Leitrim failed to take to the field came in 2001 when a disease again caused the country to virtually close down. Foot & Mouth hit the country with an outbreak in Louth and with Leitrim already out of the reckoning, the decision was made not to travel to Armagh. It was a decision that didn’t go down well in the Orchard County -  they lost out on promotion thanks to scoring difference - how did that help competitive integrity?

This walkover to Fermanagh is different, a confluence of events that left Leitrim in an impossible position - they simply didn’t have enough players available and no wishful thinking or fanciful plans alter that fact with this week's U20 Championship clash with Galway another complicating factor - I'm not privy to what may or may not have went on, we've all heard rumours and stories I'm sure but the high level of U20 players on the Senior squad is a factor. 

Leaving Ballinamore after the Offaly game, myself and Willie Donnellan wondered what was going to happen with the  U20 championship fast approaching. Just 23 players togged out that day and six of those were U20s, Jack Foley, Eanna McNamara, Paul Honeyman, Ben Guckian and Darren Cox starting the game with sub keeper Brian Cull on the bench. Six out of 23 leaves you with 17 players and two of those who did start, Keith Keegan & Conor Quinn,  left the field early with serious looking hamstring injuries.

Donal Casey & Cillian McGloin, were back on the bench after long term injuries and lengthy rehabilitation, are not near match sharpness and then, calamity upon calamity, keeper Daire O’Shea suffered a concussion in training this week, ruling him out of action.

Some have asked why a few club players weren't drafted into action  so to at least fulfill the fixture but with a Bank Holiday weekend looming, you'd expect most people had plans made for the long weekend - look at the litany of walkovers in club games over a bank holiday weekend but nobody talks about shame being brought upon a club when that happens.

Then there is a duty of care - you simply can't throw a club player into inter-county action without being properly prepared any more than I'd be able to hop into a race against Rhasidat Adeleke with two day's notice!

Duty of care is a phrase that is bandied about a lot in the GAA but some have lost sight of what it actually means. Fielding players in inter-county action without the necessary fitness and preparation is akin to throwing a novice into the ring with Tyson Fury - it just wouldn't and shouldn't happen.

THE LAST POINT: RULES CHAOS THREATENS CONTROL

Steven Poacher has a squad who have been training hard since last November but have been cruelly  exposed by a dearth  of physicality, power and conditioning so when it comes to rounding up some volunteers, the expression ‘throwing the lambs to the wolves’ comes to mind - I wonder if one of the 'volunteers' had been badly injured, what would we have said about duty of care then?

We routinely laud the skills and tactical acumen of inter-county players, praise their almost supernatural fitness but are we honestly suggesting that fielding a team with a gaggle of untrained and unprepared club players, in an effort to salvage our pride, is a viable solution  to a once-in-a-lifetime injury crisis? 

Our county's pride and reputation has been damaged, certainly, but the damage was done when so many players opted out of the Senior squad - as they are perfectly entitled to. But we just don't have the playing resources to cope with such an exodus and now we are  paying the price.

There is no winner here - I'd have preferred to see the game played but the more I think about it, contrarian that I am, the more I believe the decision, as unpopular as it was, was brave and ultimately, for the good of a very young and inexperienced team. Can any of us argue with that?