THE LAST POINT: Phoney war but real casualties

Phoney war may be a strange term to use regarding League football, men or ladies, but the sense that the football season is only now about to kick into top gear cannot be ignored, particularly after a somewhat bewildering end to the National Leagues - both in a broader sense and for us here in Leitrim.

I had prayed last  week that the run of bad luck and misfortune that afflicted our county teams the previous weekend wouldn't transfer to our Ladies team but unfortunately, their long and painful odyssey to escape the Lidl LGFA Division 4 now goes to an eighth year after Antrim inflicted a 5-8 to 3-10 defeat on Jonny Garrity's squad last Sunday in Kingscourt.

My colleague Eoin Gallagher was on duty in O'Raghallaigh Park, you can read his take on the game elsewhere in these pages but Eoin raved about the quality of the fare he witnessed in Kingscourt and the entertainment value for fans who witnessed a truly epic encounter, praise that will still be scant consolation for a proud Green & Gold squad who demand the highest standards of themselves.

In truth, 2025 has been a strange and oftentimes confusing year for the Ladies squad - they have new found status as All-Ireland Intermediate champions, a team respected and feared in equal measure yet they've never quite hit the heights we know that they can reach, their form reflected in their record of three wins, one draw and three losses in the round robin stages, the perfect break-even record.

I'd been hoping that Garrity's troops were timing their effort differently this year - they had gone through 2024 with just one loss to eventual All-Ireland Junior champions Fermanagh only to get caught out by the mother & father of an ambush by Limerick in the semi-final but Leitrim were quietly confident going into last Sunday’s game, sure they had Antrim’s number this time around.

THE LAST POINT: A WEEK BUT UNLIKELY TO BE FORGOTTEN

In a way they did - they hit two more goals than they did in the round 5 game earlier this year but so too did the Saffrons, their hard running and ability to profit off turnovers and mistakes, a trait of Jonny Garrity’s own team, proved a barrier too high for Leitrim  to scale last Sunday.

Some will wonder if there is a metaphorical hangover from their Croke Park heroics last year? Have the Ladies  retained the edge that set them apart last year as they came through a series of incredibly hard fought encounters to lift the Mary Quinn Cup? In one way, that would be understandable if there is, one of those unconscious things that champions aren't even aware of until it is too late.

There may be an element of that in Leitrim's struggles this year, they wouldn't be human if there wasn't some reaction to last year's triumph and celebrations but honestly, I'd be more inclined to believe that the Ladies are just going through a transition that has been exacerbated by the loss of a few key but often under-rated players.

Losing the Bruen sisters, Orla Flynn and Aine Redican has been an even bigger blow than many realised - their pace, ability to cover the ground and understanding of the defensive structures Garrity constructed over two years is easy to underestimate. Those replacing that quartet will settle in and learn the system, they’re quality players but that still takes  time. 

Maybe Sunday’s heartache will see the Ladies draw inspiration from their achievements last year. Lifting the Mary Quinn Cup seemed like an impossible dream had you suggested it this time last year but Leitrim used their League pain to inspire them to achieve their wildest dreams. That's a bit tougher with Mayo and Galway waiting in the Connacht Senior grade this year but Garrity's troops relish the toughest of challenges. 

Not escaping Division 4 is a serious blow to Leitrim's pride and their ambitions, no point in pretending otherwise but this time last year, they looked in a far worse position. Leitrim's pain in not winning promotion is in contrast to much of what we witnessed in Croke Park over the weekend as teams seem more inclined not to win their Allianz NFL Final rather than making a gung-ho attempt to claim a national trophy. 

The GAA has always had a strange relationship with their Leagues - 'sure it is only the League' is almost a motto but the newly condensed schedule of inter county games means that the shine has definitely worn off League Final weekend. Considering the thousands of Leitrim fans from all over the world that flocked to Croke Park this time last year for the Division 4 Final makes that statement more than a little weird but losing to Laois didn't make it any less of an occasion to savour.

Leitrim got another volley of brickbats in the national media last week, Pat Spillane and Colm O'Rourke joining in the pile-on on the Green & Gold, and Steven Poacher in particular, with a vehemence that surprised me. Monaghan's Gabriel Brannigan rushed to Andy Moran's defence over a perceived slight, before admitting he didn't know exactly what the current Leitrim manager was referring to.

O'Rourke was particularly energised by the situation in Leitrim but not so much about Meath losing two of their management team last week while he had nothing at all to say about the curious case of the Carlow  team flatly contradicting an official statement from their own County Board following Shane Curran's resignation last week but maybe that's the way the cookie crumbles!

THE LAST POINT: NO WINNERS IN AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION

I'd promised myself I wasn't going to revisit the subject but that seems like impossible as the days go by. People can write what they want and believe what they want but the fact is that most of us, me included, have no idea of what goes on behind the closed doors of inter-county teams, what the culture is or isn't and nor should we, no matter what rumours or tittle-tattle we hear.

Yet when the furore has died down (although I'm not at all sure that is possible), we've arrived at the business end of the  season - the championship! The phoney war is definitely over and while teams might time their peaks somewhat differently, it is life or death, in a football sense, from now on. 

Leitrim Minors and U20 footballers are experiencing that right now in their own competitions and while the  League has claimed a few casualties, the GAA's phoney war is coming to an end as our Men's and Ladies teams will soon find out!