THE LAST POINT: A big step for Leitrim in the right direction
THE LAST POINT
Sometimes there is a temptation to proclaim ‘I told you so’. It’d be easy to quote lines from this column last week to convey the impression that the Observer has a soothsayer in their midst, that I always knew Leitrim would take defending champions Galway to the limit last Saturday in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada. Trouble is, I’m not sure even the most blinkered Green & Gold fanatic expected what Steven Poacher’s troops delivered.
Bandwagons are great places – room for everyone when things are going well, not so popular when results take a turn for the worse, Castlebar a case in point last Sunday as hordes of Mayo fans disappeared quickly from the terraces, a speed that was mirrored by how quickly the Rossies got on board the Mark Dowd bandwagon.
Right now, Leitrim’s support is finding its voice again, for the first time since Division 4 promotion back in 2024. It has been a hard two years since then – an exodus of players and a horrible, almost traumatising 2025. Safe to say there was oceans of room in the back seat of the Leitrim bandwagon, even as recently as the days in Clonmel and Carlow when fans were few and far between and expectations for this Leitrim team were below the floor.
Seeing the positives after those games was hard but they were there all the same. Leitrim have a young team that produced flashes of brilliance they couldn’t sustain it for long periods during games in the depths of an Irish winter – you didn’t have to be Einstein to know that once pitches got firmer and the youngsters that bit more battle hardened, Leitrim would improve enormously.
Did I think it would happen so quickly? Not on your life! Beating Sligo was 50-50, depending on the million small things that influence a game, but coming up against Galway, a team laden with stars, I honestly thought that if we were within eight to ten points at the end, it would have been a good day.
But that is what winning does for a team – leaving Netwatch Cullen Park at the end of February, myself and Willie Donnellan passed by young ashen faced Leitrim players, shell-shocked at what they had endured. Now, eight or nine weeks later, those self-same players are disappointed that they didn’t get past the reigning Connacht champions who are considered among a small band of elite teams with all the attributes to land Sam Maguire.
That’s quite a transformation, almost unbelievable, but it seems as if Gaelic Football is going through a revolutionary period. The mighty Dubs look like they mightn’t reach a Leinster Final for the second year in a row; an awesome Donegal got turned over by a Down team who may end up in the Tailteann Cup if they don’t beat Armagh while Westmeath landed their vaunted Meath neighbours on their backside.
Perhaps it is the contrarian in me but I’m trying to rein in the optimism, not because I don’t believe in what this Leitrim team can produce, but because I know how quickly momentum changes and things go pear-shaped. In fact, I’m probably one of the few Leitrim fans who think we didn’t leave the game behind us last Saturday.
My sense of it was that Galway were always in control – the manner in which they responded any time Steven Poacher’s side threatened spoke of a team who were tested to an uncomfortable degree but who had the nous and experience to ride the waves of emotion crashing down on their from the McGovern stand and the terraces last Saturday.
There was one moment when the shock was on – right after Jack Kelly’s goal, Leitrim turned the ball over again, Tom Prior broke free but Dylan McHugh, in an intervention every bit as important as his goal, blocked Prior’s low ground ball. We’re in the realm of ‘what if’ now, a cursed and damned place but once that chance slid by, Galway never looked in danger again.
In truth, Leitrim rode a fine line as they flirted with disaster a few times, the Tribesmen leading by ten points at one stage and butchering a few goal chances. But, and this is important, that was much down to the resilience forged in the fire of Carlow and Clonmel that has tempered the steel in this Leitrim team. This was as heartwarming and uplifting performance as you could wish for and while Poacher and his players spoke of disappointment, fans were simply thrilled to see a Leitrim team going toe to toe with a big gun and not backing down.
Not everything went our way – Barry McNulty, perhaps carrying too big of a burden and watched so closely by the Tribesmen, was guilty of nothing more than trying too hard and he was still among the better performers on the day. Yet even then, there is positivity because his teammates raised their levels, realising they can’t rely on their talisman for everything and that is another step forward in a curious kind of way.
We got a bit of luck too – my instant reaction was our penalty was soft and it hasn’t changed since viewing it. Credit Fergal McLoughlin for going full pelt into a keeper who couldn’t get out of the way but imagine your reaction had it occurred down the far end to Killian Gaffey? The black card added insult to injury for Galway, even if it was unavoidable once Niall Cullen pointed to the spot.
The Fermanagh official came in for a lot of flak from Leitrim fans but, other than missing Ryan O’Rourke getting cleaned out of it in the lead up to Tom Prior’s goal chance, most of Cullen’s decisions came down on the side of the home team – I know that’s not a popular view but the referee didn’t do us much harm at all. The decision to award Galway a free after Barry McNulty’s spectacular catch out near the side-line raised hackles but that’s a judgement call and there is a picture on our pages that might provide vindication for the decision, go check it out.
But all that debate over decisions and missed chances actually obscures the larger picture - a young Leitrim team, who have suffered some terrible days over the past 18 months, has taken a real positive step into the future. There is a buzz about the County Senior team now and that more than anything is priceless and inspiring and certainly fills this observer with genuine hope for the future.