THE LAST POINT: Easter memories like a golden egg

Easter would seem like the perfect metaphor for our modern sporting world in Leitrim  - a time of suffering, solemnity and death followed by rebirth and renewal, a cycle of pain and reflection  followed by ecstasy that celebrates the very essence of our sporting lives.

This Easter, for reasons beyond my understanding, I find myself trawling through my memories as Easter has witnessed some of the greatest days we've ever experienced as Leitrim football fans -  and also some of the very worst. Maybe it is the impending visit of mighty Mayo, a county who have only suffered three defeats at the hands of Leitrim in the history of  the Connacht Senior Championship, that has me so reflective but maybe it is also because I'm yearning for a rebirth of Leitrim's football fortunes.

We're unlikely to see it next Saturday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada - I know that is bleakly pessimistic but the tortuous struggles a young and inexperienced Leitrim have endured this year and the mind-boggling physical power Kevin McStay's team will deploy on the fabulous new Prunty Pitch has left me somewhat downtrodden.

Easter wasn't always thus for Leitrim football - my first Easter as a relatively new reporter for the Observer saw me hop on my Honda 100 and navigate the road from Finglas to Mullingar away back in 1990 for a Division 3 playoff. Back in those pre Celtic Tiger days, that meant taking in Leixlip, Lucan, Maynooth and Kinnegad, flying past Mother Hubbards with no motorway or dual carriageway to speed the journey.

On the flip side, there was nowhere near the same amount of traffic on the roads - congestion was something they endured in London or New York and travelling through Enfield or some other soon to be famous bottleneck took little or no time at all.

THE LAST POINT: INNOVATE OR STAGNATE IS THE QUESTION

League football was different then too - Division 1 & 2 were there but the rest were divided into Division 3 North and South, so Leitrim had a wealth of games against Antrim, Fermanagh, Sligo, Offaly and Longford in those years and never saw Carlow, Tipperary, Waterford or Limerick around this part of the world.

PJ Carroll's arrival in late 1989 had prompted a wild finish to the League as Leitrim twice beat Offaly to secure a place in the Division 3 playoff, the winner earning promotion. Cusack Park was the venue as we got the first small glimpse of Leitrim mania, a massive Green & Gold travelling support  thronged the pubs and hotels - before and after the match!

Now the match was 35 years ago this Easter but what I remember was two-fold - a masterful display from Drumreilly's Gerry Holohan in the full-back line and Ciaran Mahon's freetaking leading Leitrim to a deserved victory over Kevin O'Brien's Wicklow. O'Brien's name may leave some of the younger generation baffled but the Baltinglass legend won an All-Star and was probably the equivalent of a modern day Conor McManus and that is high, high praise.

The reason that Easter Sunday sticks in the mind is once again twofold - it was the first major success of the Carroll reign and secondly, it inadvertently landed me with a dose of Bells Palsy! How says you? Well, driving back to Carrick on Easter Monday, almost no traffic on the roads  if you can believe that, the low setting sun forced me to raise the visor on my motorcycle helmet - long story short, the wind froze a nerve in my face and a few days later, I looked as if I had drunk 20 pints and was left with a lisp and a droopy face, so no way as I forgetting that Easter.

A year later, Leitrim endured both death and resurrection at Easter, first losing a Division 2 playoff with Mick O'Dwyer's Kildare in Navan on the Sunday before remarkably slamming five goals past Mayo in the Connacht U21 Championship on Easter Monday, Manorhamilton's Pat O'Callaghan hitting a hat-trick as I literally danced around the sideline in Pairc Sean.

The Navan game the day before was heartbreaking - Leitrim  beat Kildare in O'Dwyer's first game in charge of the Lilywhites the previous October and promotion was now down to the two rivals after both finished the League on ten points. It was a day I remember for two players, one on either side, with Manorhamilton connections - Jarlath Gilroy broke Leitrim hearts  that day while Dan Meehan made a welcome if short lived return to the county colours.

For once, Leitrim were outnumbered in the fans stakes and getting a lift home from Pairc Tailteann with Jim Lynch, captain of the 1958 team and an utter gentleman to his core, we wondered if it would ever be Leitrim's day - 24 hours later, it was as Mayo fell victim to Carroll's magic with the U21s. The following Sunday, Galway were conquered and Leitrim were Connacht U21 Champions for only the second time, still their most recent title.

Easter hasn't always been good - one Good Friday saw myself and Willie Donnellan  on the road to McHale Park in 2005 for another U21 championship encounter, the 5pm throw-in time generated a fair bit of adverse comment and the long lines of traffic heading into Castlebar reflected a time when more and more people were willing to make the journey for a match.

My journey was not without incident - bumping into the car in front of me in the tailback, a very minor tip that had my heart in my mouth but, in again a sign of very different times, the driver ahead of me jumped out, had a look at his bumper and said 'no problem' and got back in his car and proceeded on towards Castlebar - no court cases or solicitors there but a huge sigh of relief on my part although Willie tells me he always remembers that day when travelling the road to Castlebar.

The match itself had a bump of a different sort - Leitrim were leading Mayo by two points going into added time. The Mac Hale Park curse was about to end as Mayo were at sixes and sevens when Barry Butler went down injured - play stopped, Mayo regrouped as Butler got treatment before being replaced and horror of horrors, they hit two points to force extra-time!

THE LAST POINT: NO WINNERS IN AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION

Extra-time was a tragedy as Mayo, second best for the entire 60 minutes, were transformed just as much as Leitrim were devastated, the home eventually winning by six points in probably the most heartbreaking defeat I've witnessed for a Leitrim team in the Mac Hale Park graveyard of Leitrim dreams - and yes, myself and Willie still talk about that one!

More recently, and far more depressingly, Easter saw Leitrim crucified by New York in Gaelic Park just two years ago - Leitrim were bushwhacked  in Gaelic Park, caught out by the late 6pm throw-in time that meant Andy Moran's side took to the field at 11 pm Irish time. The bitter cold, the influx of inter-county imports into the Exiles team, jet lag and nerves all combined to knock Leitrim  off their game by a fraction and that was all it took.

Moran's men should have won the game comfortably but missed about five clear cut goals chances and, already under pressure travelling out, the tension only built exponentially the longer the game went on. It wasn't that  the Green & Gold buckled but  it was New York who triumphed in a famous penalty shootout as yours truly, watching online  on GAAGO back home in the small hours of Saturday night Sunday morning, could hardly believe what I was seeing.

There have been plenty more Easter Eggs for Leitrim football down through the years, more than I care to remember, but as Gaelic Park and Pairc Tailteann in Navan proved, the pain and suffering in a sporting sense at Easter is often followed by a resurrection and that is the beauty and joy of sport.