Mal Guckian will back his lads all the way as Leitrim Gaels face mammoth Moycullen task

For the first time in 2025, Leitrim Gaels will start a championship match as underdogs but Mal Guckian has no hesitation in backing his players ahead of next Sunday’s AIB Connacht Club SFC Semi-Final against Galway’s Moycullen in Pearse Stadium (1.30 pm throw-in).

Leitrim’s first time winners come up against a Moycullen side who have appeared in five of the last six Galway Finals, winning three and also landing the Provincial crown three years ago but Gaels’ manager Mal Guckian is confident that his Connacht debutants can perform on the big stage next Sunday.

“I have 100% faith in the lads and the management with me,” Mal told the Observer on Monday, “I can't predict or preempt what will happen Sunday but I do know the lads, when they settle and they play their football and do what they've been doing all year, they're ready for anybody. 

“It's an immense task going over there and travelling, it'll be an early start on Sunday and whatnot, that yet again is something unknown to us. But these are the places we want to be. This is a reward for getting out of the county, so just cherish it, go with it and I’ll back my lads and management all the way.”

After the high of winning their first ever Fenagh Cup, Leitrim Gaels have turned their sights towards a provincial campaign although Mal admits their preparations have focused on themselves due to the simple fact they didn’t know who they’d be playing until Moycullen saw off Sligo’s Shamrock Gaels last Sunday.

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“The excitement will probably start now because of the break between the county final and the game now this Sunday. We didn’t know who we were playing until Sunday evening so it was hard to get ahead of ourselves so just concentrating on what we were doing the last couple of weeks was more so the aim.”

Neither does Mal feel that his troops will have a hard time finding focus after the celebrations of their maiden Leitrim crown: “I don't think so, I wouldn't feel it that way myself. The occasion was marvellous and the celebrations were good too but I think after that week, it was trying to get back to basics and try to knuckle down and get our heads right and our bodies right and focus on what was coming next.”

Moycullen represent a serious test for the Gaels with the Kelly brothers, Dessie Connelly and a host of others offering varied threats and Mal is well aware of the scale of the challenge, having taken in the game in Tubbercurry last Sunday: “Shamrock Gaels were in the game for large parts of it, Moycullen’s team is a strong, physical team that's very well drilled. 

“You can tell by them that they stick by their methods and that’s what pulled them through, especially in the last 10 minutes when they got a run on them, that goal changed the whole kind of thing. There were only about four or five points in it at that stage. 

“They are a strong team, undoubtedly favourites with the whole lot in Pearse Stadium as well, they have all the attributes there for them. There is quality throughout the team. Their shot selection and scores, they were basically on top of it - they were getting scores in all the right areas at the times that needed it. They were clinical - that’s the word I’d use for them.”

The Gaels’ task has been made harder by the loss of Donal Casey through injury while David Bruen & Stephen McDermott have both returned to Australia but it is the loss of Casey that stings doubly hard: “Lads going back is one thing but Donal, a stalwart, did everything possible to get himself back on the pitch this year  and unfortunately, another freak injury that is long-term. 

“My heart goes out for Donal, of all people, but taking those three lads out of the team is tough but as I’ve said all year, we've had a panel of 30-plus training. They've all trained hard, they've all worked hard, they’ve all backed each other up so I've no qualms about lads stepping into positions because they've been there all year, they've trained and they're ready for it.”

Neither does Mal buy into the notion that everything else from here on in is a bonus for Leitrim Gaels after their breakthrough victory: “I’ve heard it and you’d have heard it yourself that you’re getting a free shot because you’re from Leitrim, you have a free shot now at whoever you're playing. 

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“But we wouldn't see it that way, I don't think any Leitrim club would see it that way. We’re in uncharted waters, just like we were in the County Final. They have the know-how, they've been there so they have advantages, I suppose. But we’ve prepared as best we can, as management, as we have done all year, going to the limit. 

“They haven't left a stone unturned all year in preparations and training and the whole lot. We still have the same focus, we haven't changed in what we do. We're going out to prepare as best we can, control what we can control. That's all we can do on the day. So, is the pressure off? I don't think the pressure's been off me all year. I don't think it's going to change that - we're going to go out there and give it a hammer and tongs for all the right reasons.”