Pitch battles and a missed opportunity

Where to start this week? On Saturday evening, this column was going to be a paean to missed opportunities in the wake of St Mary's flirting with victory in the Connacht Club Senior Semi-Final but by the time Sunday evening rolled around, events in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada and Cloone superceded that idea.

Acres of newsprint, hyperbole aside, have been devoted to the notion of improving the GAA's playing surfaces in the county and more specifically in Pairc Sean, most recently a column entitled “Grounds for concern 'weather' we like it or not” exactly a month ago articulating the absolute necessity for all weather pitches.

You don't always get what you deserve

THE LAST POINT

That came after a Leitrim Intermediate Final that was played in a quagmire - much worse than we witnessed last Saturday in Pairc Sean and probably much worse than the pitch was in Cloone  last Sunday. Maybe the game could have gone ahead in Cloone, we've all seen games played in far worse over the last few weeks but all it takes is one serious injury to render that notion meaningless.

Referee Christopher Ryan walked the pitch  and decided it wasn't fit for the game - I've absolutely no problem with that and all the online trolls giving out about pitches and alternative venues and 'this simply isn't good enough' sort of craic are blind to one simple fact - there was nothing that could be done!

Pairc Sean  was fit to host the game at 8 am on Sunday morning but then came a deluge that had you thinking it might be time to look for a spot on Noah's Ark - the pictures of water lying on the pitch simply made it impossible to hold the game in Carrick.

Alternative venues were sought and fair play to Cloone, at short notice, they stepped up, mobilised their  stewards and volunteers and got the venue ready in record time. The pitch was match ready at 10 am but another deluge rendered it unplayable by the time the teams and match officials arrived.

Players and officials pictured in Cloone before the postponed AIB Connacht Club IFC Semi-Final Picture: Willie Donnellan

Efforts were made to switch the game to the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence with a 4pm throw-in and this one has me conflicted - I'd have liked to see the game played but  Cloone to Bekan is an 82 km journey that would have seen both teams, supporters and officials race across the country and then try to play a game? Could you expect footballers to produce their best in those circumstances?

St Dominic's really wanted the game switched to Bekan but Aughnasheelin stood firm and said no, as is their right - they want the game in Leitrim but they may be forced to travel next Saturday if none of the county grounds are fit to play on once more.

That's one of those little known nuggets of Connacht GAA history that reared its head on Sunday - venues like Kiltubrid, the Leitrim Centre of Excellence and a few others were suggested as alternative venues but the rule that all Connacht Club games must be held in county grounds was a major  stumbling block.

Opportunity exits under pressure - you've just got to embrace it

THE LAST POINT

That came after the fiasco of the controversial 1995 Connacht Club Final where St Mary's received a less than warm welcome when they rocked up to Corofin - in fairness, Galway and Mayo clubs complained of travelling to Aughawillan for two previous finals but after  the events in Corofin that included St Mary's mentors being drenched with water and a player having his 'dreads' almost yanked off his head, Connacht GAA acted, decreeing all club games had to take place at county grounds from then on.

The Leitrim  Centre of Excellence was never a runner in all honesty. Crowd control issues and traffic management concerns rule that out. With Ballinamore doing the right thing in laying a new playing surface, Sunday's woes were a perfect confluence of events that conspired against the game.

It is unequivocally wrong to excoriate either club, county or provincial officials for what transpired  - maybe the decision could have been made earlier to avoid supporters and teams having to travel but then you run into competing desires - the desire to get the game played and the desire to keep game in Leitrim meant every possible effort was made to get the game played  but the torrential rain that fell on Sunday morning meant that nothing could be done to avoid what happened.

What can be done right now is to start the process of laying a new surface in Pairc Sean - that's going to come with a bit of pain as Hyde Park and Mac Hale Park were both out of action for almost nine months when they upgraded their pitches but as tough as that pain is - no big Club or even Allianz League games in Pairc Sean  - it absolutely needs to be done.

St Mary's Kiltoghert's Adam Reynolds on the ball against Tourlestrane Picture: Willie Donnellan

Taking that pain ain't going to be easy - those giving out now about no venues in the county may be the same people who criticised the decision to play  February's Allianz League game against London in Bekan - for the record, I'll state again, playing in  Bekan didn't lose the game for Andy Moran's team, the performance on the day did.

A lacklustre second half performance cost Leitrim that day and it cost St Mary's Kiltoghert in a big, big way last Saturday in the AIB Connacht Club Senior Semi-Final against Tourlestrane. I posited before the game that if the Leitrim champions had kept it close nearing the end, their ability to grind out results might just see them into the Final.

Instead, they're left with regrets as it was the more experienced Tourlestrane who delivered when the pressure was at its greatest. Tourlestrane did what they had to do in atrocious conditions but I expected a lot more from them and the feeling that St Mary's lost a glorious opportunity of becoming the first Leitrim team to reach a provincial club final in quarter of a century is impossible to shake.

As tempting as it is to point to Conor Hackett's missed goal chance 11 minutes into the second half as the game changer, and had it been scored I reckon St Mary's would not have been caught by the labouring Yeatsmen, my take from Saturday's game is that the damage was really done in the first half.

Hackett's chance, brilliantly fashioned, flew narrowly wide but as a missed opportunity, it has plenty of company when you reflect on the game with misplaced passes, lost possession  and a lack of composure that bedevilled St Mary's in the second half. 

Alan Flynn's side were vastly superior in the opening 30 minutes but as I said to giddy  fans at halftime, I worried that a four point lead over a team renowned at wearing down their opponents wouldn't be enough with the wind behind them. St Mary's possession based game worked a treat in the first half but they simply didn't land enough scores when on top.

Shock & Awe with late match winning goals

THE LAST POINT

Sadly, those fears were realised and what adds to the frustration is that St Mary's first half display was better than anything they produced this year. If I were in the St Mary's camp right now, that is what I'd be clinging to - they showed what they are capable of and they weren't that  far away.

The draw was kind to the Leitrim champions this year and those sort of chances don't come around too often. But maybe Saturday's result will light a fire under these young St Mary's players - if that happens, maybe the regrets of a missed opportunity will become the valuable lesson, harsh though it was, that led to greater glory in the years ahead and that would be a victory in anybody's book.