Leitrim boss Poacher wants to build robustness into squad as he sets eyes on 2026

The game was barely an hour finished and already Leitrimm manager Steven Poacher was planning for the 2026 season as he urged his players to develop a bit of ‘robustness’ and ‘steel’ as they aim for an immediate return to Division 3 of the Allianz NFL.

Leitrim won their first game of 2025 when defeating Tipperary 3-9 to 0-10 but Poacher is looking towards next year and he is keen to develop a physical strength in his young squad: “The last few weeks have been the first time this season that we could actually facilitate an 11 v 11 environment.

“We've been training with 18, 19 players and a couple of weeks before the Mayo game we trained with just 11, trying to get the walking wounded boys back on their feet. Don't get me wrong, they're all on the field and all training, but to take part in  full football and to get to where we've got to, it goes to show you that these lads are willing to learn.

“The key thing now is a bit of robustness - we're talking about S&C and running power and stuff, but develop a bit of robustness, a bit of steel over the winter. That's the key thing over the winter  - to get into the gym in the next few weeks after a bit of a rest, a bit of downtime, get into the gym, get their work done, get their S&C done.”

The Leitrim manager pointed to his native Down as a county to emulate: “I sat in Pairc Esler last night and watched my own county beat Louth, that's a Down team that have been in a 4 or 5 year S&C programme, a young group who are now physically ready for inter-county football. Down are back in Division 3 next year and I know the work that Conor Laverty has done. They've worked very hard to get to Division 2, they wanted to stay in 2, they didn't stay in 2. He's gone into his 4th year now, back  in Division 3 and it's deflating.

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“That's why they're throwing everything at the Sam Maguire now because they can see the progress. We can see the improvements - for example, David Feeney, it is David's first year playing county football, he's got himself in fantastic shape,  dedicated himself to the gym programme.

“Our younger boys coming through, they need to get into the gym, get working hard, put a bit of timber on, in a good way, and that's the key thing, develop that robustness and that running power moving into next season.”

Poacher is eager to get some of the players who departed the panel back into the squad and will take a close look at the club championship: “It's just about getting a few boys back that have been travelling,  get a few boys back in that have been injured and I'll get myself down to club championship games and we'll see if there's any rough diamonds out there that we can mould and develop.

“The key thing for us  is that we regroup and set our goals for next year. Obviously, we want to be in Division 3, you want to be playing better teams. People think it's easy - it's not easy, once you get up there, you have to keep a panel of players together for four, five, six years, get that growth with the younger lads coming in. 

“Young Ruairi O'Rourke, who is here today with the cast on, great kid, we brought him in for a bit of experience during the Tailteann Cup when the U20s  finished. We’re doing the video work and Ruairi is taking in every word and you're doing your tactical walk throughs, he's engaged. 

“They're the young lads, they step in and they understand what environment we have at senior level and it becomes second nature to them.”