THE LAST POINT: Same ambition but different paths

Division 4 - the lowest rung on the ladder. Basement dwellers. The bottom of the pile - I'm not sure there is any description of the respective Divisions Leitrim's Men and Ladies football teams and the county's hurlers find themselves in that makes it any more palatable but whatever you call it, there is absolutely no doubt that nobody wants to be in Division 4 next year.

Getting out of Division 4 is a problem that has preoccupied Leitrim teams for longer than this past off-season - the Ladies team have fallen at the final hurdle for each of the five years and no matter how impressive their demolition of neighbours Longford was last Sunday, nobody in the Leitrim camp is shouting anything from the rooftops just yet.

Bitter experience has taught the Ladies that no matter how imperious they are in the League stages, it is a different beast when it comes to actually winning your way out of the Division in the knockout stages. It is scarcely believable that a team that competed in the TG4 Senior Championship last year and won the Intermediate crown in 2024, is still plying their trade in the basement tier of League football.

But as impressive as they were in the knockout stages of the 2024 Intermediate grade, their good form has tended to desert them just when they needed it most in the knockout stages of the League. Two League Final defeats when only the winner was promoted, with an extra-time defeat to Offaly sandwiched in between, has been followed by the greater trauma of losing semi-finals in each of the last two years when reaching the final would guarantee promotion.

It is why, as impressive as last Sunday's victory over a Longford side, admittedly still finding their feet after losing their manager right before the Festive season and with almost no preparation done, that nobody is issuing proclamations just yet.

THE LAST POINT: HOLD OFF ON THE PANIC BUTTON

It certainly hasn't been for the want of trying - the Ladies have gone flat out for some campaigns, absolutely pedal to the metal all the way but other years,  they have targeted specific games and given fringe players game time in an effort to come to a peak at just the right time. Neither have worked so far but that doesn't mean either approach was wrong and all it takes is a semi-final win for all to be right in the world.

It is why it is so hard to know what exactly to take out of Sunday's game - Kate Gormley certainly impressed but as Jonny Garrity himself remarked, the St Joseph's player was a county standard player in waiting, they just needed to get her into the set-up. It does, however, leave Garrity with a selection quandary as adding Gormley to a mix that includes Michelle Guckian, Muireann Devaney, Ailbhe Clancy, Leah Fox, Vivienne Egan and Laura O'Dowd.

That is a formidable selection and we've not even mentioned Aoife Gilmartin and Emma Guckian who were both excellent in that hard running, ground covering role that Elise Bruen, Aine Redican and O'Dowd performed so well in that run to the All-Ireland Intermediate crown two seasons ago. But as Garrity himself joked, I'd rather have that problem than the opposite!

That would appear to be the case for Steven Poacher who heads to Aughrim praying that injuries will clear up and allow him to select something close to a full-strength line-up. That appears to be a remote possibility with whispers that talisman Barry McNulty could be set for a spell on the sidelines due to a recurrence of his persistent hamstring troubles.

Losing McNulty is incalculable for a young team - his presence alone lifts everyone around him before he even kicks a ball and the one other player with the same aura, Donal Casey, is also a long term injury absentee so the omens wouldn't appear to be too promising for the start of the Allianz NFL Division 4 down in Echelon Park in Aughrim next Sunday.

Paul Honeyman and Darren Cox are battling knocks and you'd pray that Keith Keegan, Cillian McGloin and Conor Reynolds will be ready for action. But for all that,  I've seen glimpses here and there in the FBD to suggest that Leitrim will be at least competitive in this League - Tom Prior is the lightning rod for the Leitrim attack, the Ballinamore man potentially a match winner for Leitrim.

There would be a genuine concern that a young and light Leitrim squad might struggle to cope with the physical demands of Division 4 but there is no doubt about the skills and it is almost certainly why Poacher is constantly preaching patience with this Leitrim squad - the raw talent is there but it still takes time to develop.

How good are Wicklow? You can't really be sure until you face them on the field but down in Aughrim, they are a formidable force. Yet Leitrim have enjoyed some of their most famous away days in the Wicklow mountains so who knows what might happen but it promises to be a tough and demanding campaign.

Mike Wall's Leitrim hurlers are out on Saturday, against neighbours Longford and fighting odds that not even our men's or ladies football teams ever have to deal with. No pre-season competition, the revamped Division 4 Hurling League is even tougher than ever but the hurlers are used to that.

They're well familiar with their foes, they've beaten and lost to them many times over and the feeling is that if Leitrim can get a bit of momentum behind them, you never know what might happen. So if you have a couple of hours free on Saturday, why not pop into Pairc Sean and cheer on a team that absolutely embodies the defiance of Leitrim every single time they take the field! 

CONGRATULATIONS ANN MARIE!

Couldn't let this column go without a word of congratulations to Ann Marie Cox who  has been added to their Leitrim Sports Star Hall of Fame. For  all the accolades and medals she won over a glittering career, it is more the wonder of some of her scores that stick most in my  mind.

I still rank a point Ann Marie scored in Pairc Sean in a Connacht Junior Final back in the late 90s or early noughties as one of the very best I've ever witnessed in the famed Carrick venue, male or female, a stupendous score in the corner down by the Castlecarra Road end. Congrats Ann Marie on your award, well deserved as you join a list of Leitrim greats!