The dilemma of the scoring forward

Four in a row, that’s some going! No, not for Leitrim footballers who admittedly got their League back on track last Sunday with a well earned win over Carlow but the four in a row is that of Keith Beirne as the Mohill man was named on the GAA.ie Team of the Week for the fourth week on a trot.

Nobody else has got the nod two weeks in a row from GAA.ie, let alone all four weeks so Beirne’s scoring feats have people sitting up and taking notice, quite rightly it must be said as the Leitrim talisman leads both the overall and scoring from play charts for the entire National League.

It is not the first time a Leitrim player has achieved these sorts of feats - Michelle Guckian did the same in the Lidl Ladies League just last year, albeit to far less greater public acclaim but that’s a different story altogether that we might revisit on another day!

Bumps on the long road

THE LAST POINT

The late great Cathal Flynn regularly topped the League scoring charts in the late 50s and early 60s so what Beirne is achieving this year is not quite unprecedented but it is unusual and in that uniquely Leitrim way of seeing things, both immensely gratifying and enormously worrying at one and the same time!

Years of hard won experience in watching Leitrim teams has me dreading the moment the GAA public acclaims the achievements of any player or team wearing the Green & Gold - just recall how the two FBD  League triumphs of 2013 and 2014 are now regarded in this county and you don’t have to work too hard to come up with some convoluted notion of “pride comes before a fall”!

But then there is the arrogant, confident side of me, not as visible as the cautious I’ll admit but it is there all the same, that says “pour it on Keith, keep her lit and full steam ahead!” - quite a few clichés in there but you get the picture, if Keith is scoring in such prodigious numbers as he is, it is only right he is acknowledged for it.

The logic part of my brain rebels against that notion, particularly I’ll admit when it comes to freetakers - their tallies can often be as a result of the efforts of others who don’t get the public acclaim while placekickers are lauded for their tallies and part of me resents that.

Is there skill and confidence and ability in converting frees that someone else has won? Of course there is but is there anybody out there that would make the case that Dean Rock is a better or more exciting forward than Con O’Callaghan? Or that Sean O’Shea, incredibly gifted as he is, would be taken by any county if there was a transfer system ahead of his Kerry colleague David Clifford?

Consider the curious case of Cillian O’Connor - the Mayo legend is the top scorer in championship history but when discussing the Green & Red’s numerous close shaves at landing the big Canister as Paidi O Sé used to call it, the line most regularly quoted is that Mayo lack a “marquee” forward that would have got them across the line.

Then there’s the Conor McManus and Shane Walshs of this world who manage to combine both the threat from open play and the freetaking excellence that regularly has them high up the scoring charts - those lads are worth their weight in gold and that’s because the forwards who make things happen to crack open defences are the most valuable currency in gaelic football.

When sport becomes entertainment

Keith Beirne right now is moving into that rarified arena where his skill with the placed ball is more than matched by what he does from open play. It wasn’t always this way but safe to say that over the past two or three years, the Mohill man has moved into a different stratosphere   to anything we’ve seen in Leitrim for at least the past 30 years.

In much the same way that Monaghan were often derided as a one-man team with Conor McManus, some are starting to see Leitrim that way but if Beirne can emulate what the Farney man has achieved, I don’t think any of us would complain about Leitrim being a “one-man” team - as misleading as that tag is.

It is a tag I don’t like - a “one-man” team because realistically, that just isn’t true. Dean Rock, Cillian O’Connor or Conor McManus and even our own Keith Beirne wouldn’t be where they are without the efforts of their teammates to create the scoring chances they so regularly take.

Some of Beirne’s elevation as the country’s top scorer is circumstance - Division 4, we all have to admit, isn’t as high a standard as the other divisions, otherwise it wouldn't be the bottom rung of the ladder, while Andy Moran has cleverly structured Leitrim’s attacking play around freeing up his marquee attacker and getting the ball to him in the right positions.

But it is more than just that chance - Keith is playing with an incredible self-belief that literally has opposition fans ‘oohing and aahing’ in wonder at some of his scores as they did down in Wexford and it is not just with the county, his exploits with Mohill are similarly awe-inducing. He has obviously worked hard off the pitch because his movement and physicality has moved up a notch but it is his execution under pressure that has really stood out in 2023.

Again, this is where my inner voice comes in and wonders what happens if somebody manages to finally put the shackles on Keith and restrict his scoring? Alright Leitrim’s game plan is structured around getting the ball to Keith in the best possible positions but a few more scores from other areas would be enormously helpful.

It may be a different sport but as an Everton fan, let me recount to you the Gary Lineker  conundrum! Believe it or not, Everton won the English League twice in 1985 and 1987 but in 1986, they had the top scorer in the newly-bought former Leicester player who hit the back of the net 40 times that season.

Yet despite  the lethal poaching talents of Lineker, Everton finished second in League and Cup behind Liverpool. Barcelona came calling, Lineker went off to the Nou Camp and a Lineker-less Toffees stormed to the title the following year, scoring by committee and much more potent because of it.

A night to savour for Leitrim sports

THE LAST POINT

Leitrim Observer Unsung Hero Award winner Aisling Quinn, Overall winner Shane Mallon and Hall of Fame winner Patricia Griffin pictured with sponsors, officials and special guest Jonny Cooper at the Leitrim Sports Star Awards. (Back, from left) Declan Boyle, Joe Lowe, Cllr Enda McGloin, Cllr Paddy O'Rourke, Mary Quinn, Cllr Finola Armstrong Maguire, Cllr Sean McGowan. (Front) Aishling Quinn, Shane Mallon, LCC Cathaoirleach Cllr Ita Reynolds Flynn, Patricia Griffin & Jonny Cooper Picture: James Molloy

Man City fans are wondering the same right now with Erling Haaland and it is understandable if we get a little anxious about an over-reliance on Keith Beirne. The absence of Ryan O’Rourke has robbed Leitrim of an equally potent attacking threat but you’d hope that if the focus is completely on Beirne, maybe Leitrim’s opponents won’t take so much mind of the threat posed by Jack Heslin, Jordan Reynolds or Darragh Rooney.

Anyway, as problems go, it probably ranks somewhere as a “first world” problem - something that most counties would love to have right now. Congratulations to Keith on a great achievement and long may it continue!