Progress is slow but Ryan sees success coming for Leitrim

Hard to believe but Ryan O’Rourke has the guts of ten years in a Leitrim Senior jersey, has seen the ups and downs of League promotions, highs and lows but the Fenagh St Caillins man is confident that a young Green & Gold team is moving firmly in the right direction even if there are struggles right now.

Ryan is now one of the team’s veterans and ahead of next Sunday’s Connacht Senior Championship clash with Sligo in Markievicz Park, the Leitrim captain sees similarities with the past in Steven Poacher’s young team: “The squad has completely changed, which probably is one of the main problems in itself. But yeah, it is a big turnaround. There's not as many older lads and a new crew coming through.

"To be honest, I was saying this before to some of the younger lads. It reminds me a little bit of 2017, 2018, when I was part of the younger group and there were a couple of older lads, your Emlyns and Gary Reynolds and these lads at the time. There probably was that bit of inconsistency as well. I remember you might win three and lose four or win four and lose three. Our younger group were consistent enough for that couple of years and I remember we just got a couple of wins even and we seemed to end on a positive enough note in the summer.

“I remember it was 2018, we got a big win against Louth in the qualifiers. Then we played Monaghan and we actually did a decent performance that day. I think we lost the first three Division 4 league games that year and it was a tough enough campaign, but it kind of set us up nicely. We got promoted the following year so it's probably just that lads stick at it and not get too low with the lows and having the mentality that this is a journey and you're going to be at this for years.

"You will have tough days and learn from it and get physically stronger and take the experience and keep coming back and putting more work in. It will eventually come, you know.”

GOOD PEOPLE ARE AS IMPORTANT AS GOOD FOOTBALLERS SAYS POACHER AHEAD OF SLIGO CLASH

2026 saw the Fenagh clubman return to the county colours after a year out recuperating from injury and Ryan admits it took time to get back to full speed: “Played the full league, thank God, so the body feels good enough. Put a good bit of work in over the winter season to get the body back. It does take a while to be honest, I know I missed last year but it does take a while to get back into it and get up to speed and things and probably a couple of games but my body feels good enough.”

Coming back after experiencing life outside the bubble of county football can be daunting but Ryan is loving his return to the Leitrim colours: “I didn't go overly mad - I didn't go away or anything or anything different really and was involved with the club and stuff like that. So I probably didn't delve too much into the luxuries of life outside of football really. But when you're back in, it is all encompassing as you said. You're full-on all year round. There's no real breaks as such but listen, I enjoy that too, I wouldn't really ask for anything different.”

Elevated to the captain’s role, Ryan doesn’t see himself doing anything different to what he would normally do, even if he realises that with such a young team, leadership is an important part of the job: “I'm 28 now and the team is so young, you do feel a bit older. But it doesn't really change too much, I would like to think that I have the same behaviours as I have around the place before being captain and after being captain. 

“I don't think it changes too much really. It probably comes with its own sense of responsibility, being around the place but I don't think I've changed too much with it really. It's a much younger team. A lot of my age group are all away or injured. There's not too many of them really. I remember when I first came through, I think there were 12 or 13 of us on the U21 panel and the senior panel. I don't know how many of that group are on it now, maybe two or three max. So it is a huge turnover, even from the dressing room two years ago, from when I was in it last.”

Even with the ups and downs of the League, Ryan is very much looking forward to Sunday’s clash with Sligo: “No matter how the league goes, good or bad, usually now there's a bit of a switch coming up to Championship. You'd like to think the weather does improve a little bit but it's a bit more football, a bit less dogging in training probably and it's all ball - there definitely is a bit of an energy boost coming into Championship.”