THE LAST POINT: ​Leitrim’s ecstasy & agony in Sligo and Birr

​Wouldn’t you just know it – the first time in my years with the Observer that Willie Donnellan and myself aren’t covering a Leitrim Men’s championship game on Irish soil, we miss out on a stunning Leitrim victory in Markievicz Park, another Tour de Force from Barry McNulty and what is already being called the shock of the admittedly very early Championship season!

I won’t go over the whole rigamarole over the clash of fixtures between the Ladies Division 4 Final in Birr and the Men’s Connacht game in Sligo, some say it was unavoidable but I’m not too sure about that. All I know is I wouldn’t have missed the Ladies game for all the tea in China, it was a national final and Leitrim teams don’t reach too many of those, but, and there is always a but, hard not to feel a tinge of envy that myself and Willie weren't in the midst of the wild celebrations in Markievicz Park.

It is a surreal experience, to say the least, trying to focus your attention on an absorbing contest in Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park while sneaking glances at the game in Sligo on X, I almost wrote Twitter, but even through the medium of social media, the drama was evident.

The hushed whispers in the stand in Birr that Barry McNulty had grabbed an early goal were followed by louder ones when Keith Keegan landed a second. And when Ryan O’Rourke, playing a captain’s role, put the ball in the Sligo net for a third time to put Steven Poacher’s team 10 points clear, you’d have knocked the Leitrim supporters in Birr down with a feather!

I won’t go on too much about Markievicz Park, I wasn’t there (some of you will quip that hasn’t stopped me in the past!) but listening to the concluding stages on RTE and Sligo’s desperate attempts to grab an equaliser, two things came through as clear as day over the airwaves – the excitement levels were through the roof and Leitrim were more than good value for their victory.

THE LAST POINT: A CHANCE TO MAKE A STATEMENT

Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan is an old proverb, one so apt when discussing the highs and lows of Steven Poacher’s reign. He has had to endure the slings and arrows of misfortune, absent players, injuries and so much more besides and absorbed quite a bit of flak but he never lost faith in the talent of his players, that they are capable of so much more if their luck would just change.

Safe to say, I was delighted for Poacher – it wasn’t fun fronting up to the Press last year and after the games against Antrim, Tipperary and Carlow this year but despite some awful, soul destroying days, Poacher and his players keep fighting the good fight and it is wonderful to see them get some tangible reward at last.

Credit the players too – it would have been far easier and much less demoralising to throw your cap at wearing the Green & Gold but they too never wavered. Sunday’s win over Sligo is not the end of a journey but hopefully the starting point for much brighter days.

The news of the win in Markievicz certainly tempered the disappointment in Birr, but not by much! First of all, credit where credit is due, Carlow were the better team – they did their homework on Leitrim in a way that many Intermediate teams failed not to do in 2024 and were worth more than their one point win after extra-time.

But here’s the nub – Leitrim weren’t a million miles away from winning a national title, the long journey home from Birr, enduring the Fuel protests in Cloghan and avoiding the one in Athlone would have been a mite easier but all that is the realm of conjecture and what if.

And there were plenty of ‘what ifs’ – a disputed Muireann Devaney point waved wide early in the second half is one, a ‘three-up’ breach called against Michelle Guckian another but Carlow also had their quibbles, the lineswoman signalling a ‘three-up’ breach that was ignored as the Green & Gold chased an equaliser or a Leitrim player fortunate to avoid a yellow midway through the second half.

That is the essence of sport – we see the grievances against us but we’re not too bothered when decisions go our way, referees have split seconds to make a decision. For what it's worth, I thought Devaney’s effort had crept the wrong side of the posts but I was alone in that opinion in the press box and, as I regularly tell my friends, I’m not infallible!

What I will say is that Carlow had clearly done their homework on Leitrim’s set-up and much like Sligo in the semi-final, they refused to break themselves on the rocks of the Leitrim defence. That approach also sucked the oxygen from Leitrim’s momentum – Jonny Garrity’s side have traditionally thrived on quick counter attacks and ferocious pressure but Carlow refused to engage with Leitrim’s strategy.

THE LAST POINT: BLESSED RELIEF AFTER A NEVOUS DAY

It is easy to be wise after the event but one wonders what might have been had Leitrim gone gung-ho at the Barrowsiders? It must be one of the most intimidating sights in Ladies football to see Devaney, Leah Fox, Laura O’Dowd and Dearbhaile Beirne in full flight and we didn’t see enough of it last Sunday. But again, hard to second guess a tactical approach that has worked time and time again.

It bears repeating that it is no disgrace in losing to a quality team and Carlow are certainly that - in Cliodhna Ni Se, Sara Doyle, Caoimhe O’Neill, Aoife Carroll and Roisin Bailey, they have a core group of players that wouldn’t look out of place on Division 1 teams. The same can be said of Leitrim and it is a huge testament to their resilience and spirit that they came so close to victory despite Carlow dominating large portions of the contest, saying so much of the character of the team Garrity has built.

Now Leitrim face an old familiar test – can they lift themselves once more after a disappointing end to the League? Promotion was the ultimate aim this year and it was achieved in style but this team demands so much more from themselves. They’ll be asking hard questions over the next few weeks as they look ahead to a Connacht IFC Final clash with Roscommon and you can be sure, no more than the Men last Sunday in Sligo, they’ll find the answers they need.