THE LAST POINT: A weekend of ups and downs on TV

We're finally at that time of the year when, for an all too brief period, our sporting addictions are catered for mainly by what's on the TV rather than the pitches or courts of the country, unless of course, you're one of those select band that actively enjoy the AGM and Convention season which is well and truly underway.

Leitrim's own Convention on Wednesday  (tonight) got a bit of national attention when the Irish Independent picked up on Aughnasheelin's motion to prohibit players who don't play their club football inside the county they represent from lining out with said county, naturally sending the GAA world into a tizzy with quite a few in favour of the motion but a good deal more against it.

I don't know the reasoning behind Aughnasheelin's motion, I'll expect I'll hear the thoughts behind it at Convention but many are interpreting it as stopping a Shane Walsh situation or, on a local level, preventing a Garvan Jones from lining out with Fermanagh if he continues to play with Leitrim Gaels into 2026 - his brothers Ryan and Conal are fine under the wording of the motion but if Garvan wants to continue to play with Fermanagh, he'd have to move clubs back to his native county.

Truth be told, I understand the idea of promoting the link with your home club if you want to play County but, in all honesty, I'm not sure if it is practical - the motion could decimate county hurling teams at the lower levels if passed, preventing the likes of Joe Murray, grandson of Leitrim legend Josie and a Dub, from lining out with his adopted county.

Hurling's lower tiers are strewn with players from stronger counties - injecting quite a bit of class, ambition and skills into set-ups that mightn't be familiar with those standards. But most of all, the big concern I have is, had the rule been in effect in the past, the legendary Packie McGarty would have been ineligible to play for Leitrim at the height of his powers, the Mohill man spending most of his years playing his club football with  for Round Towers in Dublin and Tara in London!

THE LAST POINT: SHOUTING STOP IS JUST THE FIRST STEP

Darragh Rooney, formerly of Melvin Gaels but now with St Jude's in Dublin, would also be ineligible for Leitrim if the motion were to find favour at national level and while I am 100% sure that the intent behind Aughnasheelin's motion is completely genuine and motivated by wanting the best for Leitrim clubs, I'm not sure how it  passes muster under the GAA's own rules, let alone highfaluting notions of personal freedoms and choice of association.

Ruminating over the potential impact of the motion was certainly a worthy exercise, gauging the reactions from all over the country as it got a bit of play on social media and various news outlets, a game of 'what if' if the motion passes muster at Convention and then at GAA Congress! 

As it happened, the motion found little favour with delegates at Convention but these discussions are also important too because they tell us where the GAA is going and what is at the heart of our clubs. There was quite a bit of commentary during the Senior & Intermediate Club Championships about the impact of the Jones brothers and Kieran Kilcline for Allen Gaels, particularly from the crowd during matches, commentary that grew louder the nearer Leitrim Gaels got to the title.

But the fact is that when push came to shove, clubs didn't support the Aughnasheelin motion nor sought harsher restrictions on who can and cannot transfer in and out of clubs tells us that clubs realised the reality of the situation on the ground, that restricted an individual's choice, isn't a road that the GAA want to go down.

We did have one game last Friday that left one both  frustrated and yet optimistic for the future - Leitrim Schools lost  their bid to reach the knockout stages of the Connacht PPS Senior A Championship, somewhat unluckily I must say in a nervy game where they looked the better side for long periods but could never quite kill off the goal scoring threat of Castlebar's St Gerald's.

Two of the three Gerald's goals came with enormous strokes of good fortune - a great Scott Kerr save just not enough as the ball went into the net off  the woodwork while the killer third, and final, goal was just one of those things, a small touch on a long ball taking it away from the young Leitrim Gaels netminder, Castlebar pouncing on the rebound for a killer goal.

Leaving Bekan on Friday, I was sure of two things. First, the more they think about it, the more this group of Leitrim players will kick themselves over missing a great chance to reach the knock-out stages and, two, the combined schools project is already having a definite impact in raising the standard of young footballers in the county and broadening their horizons.

There are still a few things to be ironed out - the delay in completing the Minor Championship not only directly hampered the efforts of St Mary's Kiltoghert and St Brigid's in the Connacht Minor Club with so many games in such a short space of time, it directly impacted on the preparations for the county team and no doubt had an impact on individual schools.

But Bekan aside, most of my weekend's sporting fix was catered for by watching the box - from Everton's battling if outclassed loss to Chelsea; Scotstown outlasting Kilcoo in the Ulster Club Final; the remarkable denouement in the All Ireland Camogie Club Final all the way through to the craziness that was last Sunday's games in the NFL, an Irish interest with Down's Charlie Smyth hammering a match winning field goal for the New Orleans Saints.

Scotstown's long awaited Ulster title was both an advertisement and a condemnation of gaelic football - the drama was superb, easily the equal of anything I saw over the weekend, but the tactics against the wind showed that Gaelic football still has a few hurdles to overcome if it truly is to become the game we all hope. Holding on the ball for prolonged spells, not even trying to take a shot, is not what we love about the game so maybe Jim Gavin and his committee still have work to do.

No surprise, however, that my highlight of the weekend came in Portugal where Ireland's cross country runners put in a series of amazing performances, claiming one individual and one team gold, another team silver and an individual bronze in conditions that were a million miles away from the mudfest the athletes endured at the Irish Championships three weeks previously.

THE LAST POINT: TRADITIONS CAN BEMUSE AND DELIGHT

It didn't all go Ireland's way - the highly rated mixed relay team suffered calamity when Longford's Cian McPhillips collided with his teammate Laura Nicholson, ending the team's chances there and then even with more than half the race still to run. But it was one of the few disappointments on the day  for Irish athletics who have enjoyed a stellar year in 2026.

Nick Griggs' individual medal won't top Kate O'Connor's incredible Heptathlon feats as the athletics highlight of 2026 but given the near misses, injuries and heartaches the Tyrone lad has suffered in recent years, it comes a mighty close second as Griggs led Ireland to the team gold into the bargain.

Maybe, no more than a county team rising unexpectedly, these things go in cycles but Irish athletics is riding a crest of a wave at the moment but the same could be said of Irish swimming, Arigna's Cormac Rynn again capturing the headlines last weekend, or Irish rowing who continue to set new standards despite unsettling revelations in The Sunday Independent in recent weeks and I haven't even mentioned  the medal factory that is Irish boxing who continue to set the gold standard.

Whatever it is or whatever caused it with rugby and soccer teams, Irish sport seems to be riding a crest of wave as we end 2025 and hopefully it continues in 2026 and well beyond!