Yet another kick in the teeth

It has been a rough four weeks if you are a Leitrim fan and that's no understatement as dreams of league glory and maybe even a tilt at the Connacht Senior Football Final all went up in smoke over four harrowing weekends for all those who love the Green & Gold.

Leitrim Ladies saw their dream of exiting the bottom basement vanish in a blizzard of Antrim scores on Sunday in the Lidl LGFA Division 4 Final in Parnell Park, the brilliant sunshine and unexpected warmth of the day in Dublin GAA's HQ doing little to lift the mood of sombre Green & Gold fans in the aftermath of an impressive display from the Saffrons.

Travelling back down  from the capital, myself and Willie Donnellan wondered what sort of a black cat Leitrim had run over, how many mirrors have been broken in the county or if we've all been walking under ladders because if Leitrim didn't have bad luck on the fields of play  this past month, they'd have no luck at all!

WORDS CAN'T CAPTURE THE SHOCK

THE LAST POINT

Just consider the past four weeks and how the line between success and failure is so razor thin:

• Week 1: Leitrim recover from an eight point deficit against a dominant Sligo to take the lead with four minutes of normal time left in the final must win  Allianz NFL Division 4 game of the year. With three minutes of normal time left, Leitrim were in the Division 4 Final but Sligo hit two late points to snatch promotion and a visit to Croke Park from the grasp of Andy Moran's men.
• Week 2: The hurlers’ turn to suffer the agony of a late defeat - trailing by four points late in the Allianz NHL Division 3B Final, Olcan Conway's men defied the odds as they reeled in Cavan to draw level despite missing a host of chances. But after they grabbed the equaliser, Cavan broke their hearts with an injury time winner nine minutes into added time with Leitrim missing two late chances to force extra time after that!
• Week 3: New York - even now, more than 10 days later, it is hard to fathom how Leitrim lost this game as they squandered a host of goal chances and then missed four spot kicks in the penalty shootout, not to mention poor options and bad wides in the dying minutes. If you penned that sort of story for a publisher, they'd file that under “Fantasy” or maybe “Horror” for a Leitrim audience.
• Week 4: Last Sunday saw the highest scorers in the entire Lidl LGFA Leagues suffer a malfunction as Antrim hit 20 scores to just eight for the Green & Gold in a chastening defeat. With the vast majority of the crowd in Parnell Park cheering on Jonny Garrity's side, it looked as if Leitrim were going to commit a smash and grab raid as they cut Antrim's eight point lead in half with ten minutes left to play. Unfortunately, it was the Saffron women who turned on the jets to run out comfortable winners on a day when another dream of glory died.

I've not even mentioned the sickening feeling that has lingered since the U20 side lost out to Galway in Tuam in between the hurlers’ defeat and the New York game, a feeling that had Barry McNulty lined out for Brendan Guckian's side, we'd be getting ourselves ready for a Connacht U20 Final against Sligo tonight (Wednesday, April 19) - if New York, Abbotstown & Parnell Park were cruel missed opportunities, then Tuam may just be the most heartbreaking of the lot.

That might seem strange given Galway's 2-9 to 0-6 winning margin but with Leitrim trailing by just a point with 12 minutes to go, you'd have thought that  McNulty would have given the U20s the presence and class they needed to push for victory but I  guess we'll never know at this stage.

A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

THE LAST POINT

In fairness, of all the missed opportunities, last Sunday's was, perversely the easiest to take, because Antrim were clearly the superior team - that doesn't lessen the hurt felt by the Leitrim players in any way but unlike the frustration felt by the footballers in New York, Tuam and Pairc Sean and the hurlers in Abbotstown, there was no arguing with the verdict or ruing missed chances.

Antrim had done their homework well - they cut off the space to Michelle Guckian, Ailbhe Clancy and Leah Fox and when the ball did get to Leitrim's strike trio, they got enough bodies around them to cut out the space and limit the damage. The Saffrons even had the pace to counter the blistering runs of Laura O'Dowd and Elise Bruen but in the blistering heat of Parnell Park, relying on the speedy Leitrim duo to repeatedly make 60, 70, 80 metre runs with the ball was asking far too much.

Contrast that with Antrim's clinical game plan - precise passing that favoured the attacker rather than the often hopeful punts forward into the Leitrim attack and a patience that saw the Saffrons reluctant to take the ball into the massed Leitrim defence, waiting for the opportunity and when  it came, they took it.

Pace was also evident in the Ulster team all over the field and on the hottest day of the year so far, their deliberate attacking style meant they probably conserved their energy that little bit better than their Leitrim opponents who had to chase and charge at full pace for the entire 60 minutes.

As hard as it is to write, Antrim had more than enough chances to turn their ten point victory into a cakewalk, missing 13 or 14 chances compared to just six for Leitrim. Now one of those Leitrim chances was a penalty that, had it been converted, would have cut a four point deficit back to just one at the halftime interval but unfortunately, like a lot of things last Sunday, it just didn't go Leitrim's way.

Certainly, the journey home on Sunday felt like another kick in the teeth, myself and Willie wondering if Leitrim would ever get to enjoy a day in the sun and when these losses keep coming one after another, week after week, year after year, it's easy to surrender to despair and pessimism.

But maybe we just need to keep the faith, to keep persevering and to keep dreaming because if trophies are your only measure of success, then the only teams who can be truly happy each and every year are the teams that win the All-Ireland. The only option is to go again and go as hard as you can - just look at the Leitrim hurlers last Sunday.

Meatloaf is wrong - two out of three IS bad!

THE LAST POINT

With the focus on Parnell Park, Olcan Conway's side travelled to Clontibret to take on a high flying Monaghan with all the odds in favour of the home side, odds that got even better when Colm Moreton received a very harsh red card towards the end of the first half. Monaghan looked home and hosed as the game entered injury time, leading by seven points and on the cusp of victory.

But displaying a never say die spirit we love to see in Leitrim teams, the hurlers rallied hitting 2-1 in added time to force a draw, rescuing an impossible situation and reminding us that sheer bloody mindedness and attitude goes a long, long way in sport.

It has been a rough run of games for Leitrim, Sunday's loss for the Ladies really feeling like another kick in the teeth but all you can do is go again and keep going. You might not always win but as the Ladies team face into the Intermediate championship and Andy Moran's team head for the Tailteann Cup, it is a lesson we all need to take to heart!