Olcan still spreading the gospel of Leitrim hurling

Hurling comes across more like a religion than a sport at times, the game’s devotees so completely wrapped up in the game that it almost comes across like a cult.

So it comes as no surprise that former Leitrim hurling manager Olcan Conway is more than comfortable describing the game as a religion.

Conway, who stood down this year after four pressure filled years in the post that saw the very existence of inter-county hurling in five counties come under threat, is definitely someone I’d describe as a hurling evangelist and while he has stepped away from his role in charge of the County Senior and U20 sides, Olcan is adamant that the sport can thrive in Leitrim.

Manager Olcan Conway holds the Andrew O'Neill Cup after Leitrim's victory over Monaghan in the All-Ireland U20 C Championship Final in Kingspan Breffni Park last Saturday with Hurling Board Chairman James Keane, Mark Boyle, Martin Feeney, Niall McLoughlin, Mark McBride and Danny Byrne | Picture: Willie Donnellan

“Hurling in Leitrim was always my first priority no matter what - making the players better, trying to increase the standards with them and trying to just make them better hurlers and better people as well, don't get me wrong,” Olcan told the Observer,

“So that was always my priority, every decision myself and the management team made was always about trying to make Leitrim hurling better.”

Trying to explain the hold hurling has on its participants is easy for the Derry native: “It is a very enjoyable sport to play, we all know that - that's probably why most of the lads love it. It is a great game to watch, a great game to play. So it is more like a religion sometimes and maybe it's the best way to describe it.

“Hurling is followed by good people and there's a lot of good work going on in the background. And, you know, hopefully things can progress even further in Leitrim after this.”

That love of hurling means that even now, a month after stepping down, Olcan admits it has been hard to come to terms with leaving the post: “Ah, look I am feeling sort of sad and happy, really, you know, my time has come. It's been a very enjoyable few years with the team and players that's there.

“But the last year in particular was very mentally and physically draining. We found things very difficult this year, what with the loss of more first team players, pitches were impossible to train with nearly all the way up until, I think it was nearly April before we got trained on a pitch properly. It was a very mentally tough year so I am glad to have the break but I'm also sad that I'm leaving at the same time.”

It is why Olcan fervently hopes that the hurling community in Leitrim will get the support they need to thrive in the years to come: “The big thing is that a new management team comes in what I suppose fresh ideas, trying to take the thing up to the next level, maybe improving our S&C, our stats and nutrition and all them bits and pieces that need to be moved up another level.

“That would be my hope and wish for Leitrim hurling and the current players that are there; that somebody comes in with a new voice, new ideas and really drives the team up to the next level because I can't say enough about them.

“They've always given me the best time and respect that you could ever be given to be honest and it's more so for them and the hurling community that somebody comes on board and drives it up another level. Hopefully the County Board will back that and show the support that needs to get the team to the next the next step on the next level.”

How to take those next steps is the difficult part of the equation with just two clubs in the county supplying the bulk of the county and even if they are serving as hubs for much larger areas than normal club areas, Olcan would like to see greater support for Cluainin Iomaint and Carrick on Shannon Hurling clubs.

“Having only two clubs is a problem and people say you've only got one championship game but the actual amount of competitive games those two clubs play outside the county is massive. There's a huge amount of work going on and I know a lot of other people talk about promoting hurling and trying to get other clubs going within the county.

“But I've always been sort of the mindset that we really need to protect the two clubs that we have first and make sure that we have enough players coming through and both of them clubs to keep them very sustainable. Because, you know, before COVID and after COVID, we've all lost players that are underage.

“I'm still involved in underage and Carrick and I can see numbers have dropped. Thankfully Manorhamilton underage numbers have come back again massively in the last couple of years, which is largely due to the work of two or three individuals up there that are putting in a massive amount of work.

“Both clubs were under pressure there for a number of years so we really have to protect what we have first before we look at building on things. That's also a very important thing that people realise it's just not about getting more clubs but we really need to protect the ones that we have.”

Olcan Conway patrols the sideline with the Leitrim hurling team during the Allianz NHL Division 3B Hurling Final against Sligo at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in October 2020 | Picture: Harry Murphy Sportsfile

Much of what goes on in the hurling community in Leitrim is often unseen by the greater GAA public with Olcan, who led Carrick to Leitrim’s first ever Men’s Provincial club title at any grade in any code back in 2018 revealing quite a startling statistic: “The last year I was in charge of the club, between all the different competitions we had, I think we had 21 competitive games this year.

“I remember doing a count of what St Mary’s footballers had played that year in the League and championship, and this is not getting at anyone, and it was somewhere around 12 competitive matches. So we had nearly double the competitive matches and that is still going on between Cuchulainn leagues, Paddy Phelan Leagues.”

That’s why the County U20 team, who won the All-Ireland C Championship title this year, is such an important development for the future of Leitrim hurling, providing a bridge between underage and senior inter-county hurling: “I help out at different stages with some of the underage squads but I suppose a prime example is our U17 Celtic Challenge squad won the All Ireland some years back.

“They absolutely annihilated Longford in the final by 26 or 27 points but I think there's only maybe one or two of them left playing inter county hurling. So that age is where you lose them. We had 24-25 guys playing and I think there was only, maybe, Paul Lenehan and I'm not sure if Michael O'Brien was on that team as well.

“But not too many more of them have filtered through the senior team. So that was a county U17 team that had a very talented bunch of young lads and we didn't carry them through to the intercounty squad so that's a gap that has to be bridged, and hopefully will be bridged and that's why the U20s are so important. Hopefully, that will remain and I'm very happy about the position I’m leaving the squad in.”

That continuity is crucial with Leitrim losing some key players over the last few years that helped Leitrim to League Finals and a Lory Meagher Cup victory in 2010: “We lost some very good players over the last number of years. Two years ago we lost Diarmuid Kelleher when he went to the senior football team, the two McDermotts went travelling, Cahir O’Donnell moved back to Cork.

“Last year, we lost the Moretons, Brendan Delaney - that’s seven or eight lads out of an Intercounty squad so there are only so many times you go to the wire. We have to make sure that the quality keeps coming through so I'm very happy about how you have left the squad this year. It's a good young squad after winning an U20 All Ireland title and I know looking in their eyes, a lot of them will be back next year hurling again for the county.”

Some, not having ever witnessed a Leitrim hurling game, may sneer at the standard of hurling produced in the game’s lower divisions but Olcan believes the skill and commitment required at Lory Meagher and Nicky Rackard level would stun observers:

“The way it's moved on in the last 10 years, Lory Meagher and Nicky Rackard, it's massive. I remember watching the games 10, 12 years ago and to what they are now, it's huge.

“I suppose that's the whole thing about developing players and all that but it's also maintained in the presence of intercounty level. We've been trying for a number of years, they have an U20 team, because the jump from U17 up to senior level is huge and I think what the U20 hurlers this year have done was just amazing.

“There was a group of young lads there and now we're saying, Oh yeah, there's something for us. Rather than have this massive jump and it is a massive jump a lot of people don't see Lory Meagher Hurling, they don't realise how tough it is ,how demanding it is, how skillful it is. This year, the U20 lads trained alongside the senior squad was a huge boost, like a big boost for them, a big boost for the senior team, it made a huge difference.”

Olcan even cites the example of Andy Moran taking over the management of the U20 footballers this year and the impact young players can have on a Senior squad: “You can see, even with the senior football team for example, you can see the young lads coming through that have trained at U20 and the impact that they're having, and, and the county football team.

“We need to try and have the same impact on the county Hurling team, a conveyor belt coming through because we're losing players every year due to immigration and different things.

“Hopefully that's something that will keep going on and I think that might be one of my focuses maybe over the next number of years is trying to focus on young lads coming through; that we're getting good talented players coming through and they're getting the help and support and the coaching that they need to be an Intercounty player.”

Evangelist that he is, Olcan believes there are players out there is each and every corner of Leitrim who could hurl for the county, citing the example of Pearse Kenny from Aughavas: “Pearse is a great example, Pearse has been playing with Carrick Hurling, the first time I seen it might even been U12, U14 and even then, he caught our eye at the time so you know there was a talented bunch of young lads coming through and there's another talented bunch come through behind them.“