What we're doing hasn't work says McWeeney as Leitrim U20 manager calls for revamp of club scene

Leitrim club football needs a revamp if the county’s players are to be able to compete at the highest level according to U20 manager Barry McWeeney after his side bowed out of the Dalata Hotels All-Ireland U20 B Championship last Wednesday in King & Moffatt Hyde Park.

Speaking after the 3-20 to 1-17 loss at the hands of Westmeath, the former Leitrim star and Senior team selector said that the current system is not working and change is an urgent requirement: “We have to be realistic here, there's a lot of things need to change in our club scene. The competition that we're giving players, the number of games that we're giving and that's for everyone to reflect on.

"That's not the county board, that's clubs, it's everybody that's involved in coaching. What we're doing isn't working, it hasn't worked and we need to change it and that's the reality of it. I think there are good people there but we have to start listening to the opposite conversation as well. I know it is frustrating and we would have liked to really push on against the Galways and Mayos but we have to be realistic here.”

Two of the big challenges facing Leitrim come with under and over population in some club catchment areas: “We have two challenges - we have really populated clubs and then we have really unpopulated clubs. We need more amalgamations but we also need to look after the smaller club. We need to get that balance right and there is that ongoing argument about the U15 competition at the minute and we just need to come together and make it better.

“What I can say for these lads is they have worked so hard this year, they want to play football for Leitrim, there's no doubt about that. These boys have driven the length and breadth of the country, they've put the effort in. Now we need to come in behind that and make it better for everybody. We'll get the results at some stage but we have to be prepared to put in the slog, one night a week isn't going to do this.”

REPORT: WESTMEATH'S RAPID START BLOW LEITRIM U20S OUT OF THE WATER

The Aughnasheelin clubman had words of praise for the County’s S&C team but stressed that work needs to be done in the clubs: “We have to look at the positive side of this. Hopefully most of them will elevate themselves to senior football but a lot of them are playing with junior clubs and you're not going to reach the levels that they got to play at today. Physically we have a lot of work to do.

"I've been talking to the county board already about the potential of getting these boys back in and get that physicality going in our players and that's not just the S&C. Darragh and Dillon have done a massive job for us this year but we need to do more. We need to extend this, we need to get the education back to the clubs and really push on with this. It's not one or two players, it has to be it has to be a big group.”

Another complication for the U20 team was the fact that so many players were involved with the Senior team and school teams as well: “It's been a tricky year all year - it's great to see the school's team going well, it's it's great to see lads you know elevating to the senior level but it just probably curtailed a wee bit what promise was there. It's not an excuse, we got to bring Paddy in there, we had Ben Harte on the bench, we had the Gardiners.

"A lot of them boys are going to be there again next year and that's what we have to do is keep bringing on these players and hopefully come club football season, we'll see these lads light it up. There's huge ability there and that's what the job is, to get these lads through. You had the likes of the Gardiners, Dessie Wisley, Alan Beirne the last day, you had these boys getting game time at this level and you don't get competition like this in club football.”

Reflecting on the game, Barry agreed that Westmeath’s strong start left Leitrim chasing the game: “Those early goals, we worked very hard trying to keep them out and these things happen. We knew there was always a chance that they would get one or two but it just set us back. But at halftime, with the likes of Jack and Ben who can kick two pointers, we always felt that we had the chance.

"We just didn't have enough there in the second half, we just couldn't get close enough. That goal chance, Darren cut them open and it just came back and then Liam had the chance as well. We just needed to get that little bit closer, that would give us that energy to push on from there.”

Westmeath’s experience and dominance in the middle of the park were big factors: “I was chatting to the Westmeath manager, he was saying 17 of these lads were involved last year when they got to the final of this and so that stood them. They had us in the first couple of minutes there around the middle of the field.

“We managed to come back into it, Collie had a massive game there, we just couldn't get enough to to get us that bit closer to actually make a difference and really push on. Fair to them, they really went at it and you can't fault the effort levels, they kept going right to the very end and that's that's good to see. Oftentimes you see Leitrim teams couldn't compete there at the end but they just kept going, they kept fighting and you have to be proud of the effort that they made.”