McWeeney remembers teammate Philly as Leitrim lift Connacht U20 Shield

Winning a Provincial title is always something to be cherished for Leitrim football but for Barry McWeeney, seeing his U20 lift the Philly McGuinness Cup was just that little bit more special as he remembered his former teammate who passed away 15 years ago.

Leitrim defeated Galway 5-13 to 4-12 in a high scoring encounter on Wednesday in Kiltoom and Barry’s thoughts immediately turned to his former teammate for whom the Cup is named after: “I was lucky enough to play with Philly. I had a great time for Philly and the lads gave me a great opportunity when I came in first into the County Senior set-up. 

“So, it's nice to be able to say we brought it home this time and it is nice to be able to remember Philly again because he was a great lad and he was sorely missed when he left and still is. So, it's great to have that opportunity to actually be involved in this and great to bring his trophy back to Leitrim.”

Winning the trophy was also important for this generation of Leitrim footballers: “We've been going all year and we needed something. We felt the first day against Galway, we were a lot closer. Obviously, it's a different Galway team but the boys worked hard. They've come back after we played both Sligo and Roscommon and they've wanted to go after this. 

“This is why the competition has been brought in, to give teams like us the opportunity to play. And it's lovely. It is great to have the opportunity to win a trophy. It's not often that Leitrim teams do, so it's nice to bring it home.”

LEITRIM WIN PHILLY MCGUINNESS CUP FOR FIRST TIME EVER IN KILTOOM SHOOTOUT

Having five members of the Senior panel in action, Paul Honeyman was ruled out through injury, showed on the field of play and Barry highlighted their contribution: “Ben (Guckian) was just pinging them. He was knocking them out of the sky. I thought he probably should have had two more goals there, just different bits and pieces but a game-changer. 

“Likewise, Darren Cox's pace and ability on the ball. Collie was brilliant in there, full-back. Jack Foley, solid as ever. Eanna (McNamara), even the goal he got, he's been threatening that all year, both with the seniors and with ourselves and it's lovely to see that he got a finish on it as well. So, I know, look at it, you know, Jack Rowley. Like, there's quality there.

“They just need more time and we need to give them more resources and everything else. And just see them flourish in the years to come. So, it's great for them. It is the first Leitrim team to win this so it is a great opportunity for us and long may it last.”

Even with the joy of victory and a vastly understrength Galway team, Barry wasn’t completely happy with the performance: “Disappointed with the last couple of goals there, we had outlined to the lads there in the last couple of weeks that we want to shore up at the back.

“We obviously have a lot of work to do to make sure that we improve on that. But, it's a start. We did get five goal;s, we probably should have had seven. Not getting the ball to foot quick enough at times. That's things for the lads to work on as well. So, it's good to be producing the opportunities to actually get these chances. And we just have to work harder at the back just to prevent them from going in.”

Galway may have been understrength but Barry insisted the Tribesmen had quality there: “We weren't sure what way it was going to work out in terms of what kind of a team they were going to put out. But, when you bring in power and pace like the subs they did, it's hard to manage. Eanna was a match for Sean Dunne but they're the levels and we need to start giving our lads the opportunity to play and see that pace as well. I thought we handled it quite well.”

Barry revealed that his young players are eager to push on for the All-Ireland B series and that the Minor & U20 team’s victory in Connacht Shield Finals reflects the good work that is being done in the county, even if more remains to be done! “There is a lot of good work going on and there's a lot of silly things that we have to look at ourselves. 

“At times I feel we're not getting enough competition in club football and that's a whole other debate but at least these lads now are getting the opportunity to prepare properly and come up against lads of their own age. We'll keep going. They're eager to keep going. We need to look after them and make sure that they have a lot of football coming up all the time before summer. It's a good opportunity for our lads to keep at it.”