We’re a team stresses Mohill captain Keith Beirne ahead of Sunday's Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final

Hard to avoid talk of Keith Beirne these days. The Mohill talisman is lighting up the Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC again this year with a litany of superlative displays - so much so that it’s tempting to think that if any team can hold their star attacker, then Mohill can be beaten.

That sounds fine in theory with St Mary’s the latest to test it out in next Sunday’s showpiece final in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada - only thing is that the man himself doesn’t share those sentiments with Keith pointing to his teammates' roles in the scores he plunders!

“We’re a team at the end of the day and I need those runs the lads make,” answered Keith when it was put to him the notion that Mohill may be over-reliant on their captain, “That’s a big thing Eamonn has brought in. We sat down and said that if teams are targeting me, we move the ball, lads do serious dummy runs and I can just loop off and kick scores. 

“If I can do half the amount of work and kick seven points and we win? That’s all that we want, we’re a tight team - we don’t really mind who gets the scores.”

Nevertheless, the focus on Keith is unrelenting but for the Mohill captain, the focus is all about getting better rather than basking in what he has achieved. Asked if he is aware of the roar of the crowd greeting his scores, Keith laughs and says “I don’t ever hear them really but when I miss them I get a good bit of booing.”

In a serious vein, Keith reveals he is always looking to improve himself: “That is something I work on a lot - people ask me what did you get and I’d say I missed one or two. I’ve got to work on them and that improves your whole game.”

The Mohill captain is not surprised to see St Mary’s facing them once again: “I said back in 2020 that the St Mary’s team was young - they’re still very young but they are fit and strong, they’ve good structure. They are back in a County Final, there is a reason they are there, they beat good opposition - Fenagh beat us. It was a serious championship all year, we finished fifth in the group.”

Reflecting on those losses to Ballinamore and Fenagh, Keith believes they may actually have helped Mohill’s chances: “We’re delighted to be in the final, at the end of the day you just want to play in County Finals. We said that coming off the two losses, beating Aughawillan and then we drew Ballinamore and you realise that you could be sitting at home in the middle of September and we want to be pencilling in October 16, in our diaries so just to be back in a county final is huge.

“When we targeted the start of the year, we wanted to avoid a quarter final but then when we saw the way things were going, we were happy to have that game and sharpness. We haven’t played a challenge match all year because it has been league into championship.

“We said coming over we thought Carrick would have the edge and we’d have the edge and sharpness on Leitrim Gaels. Three weeks off is a long time - if you watch inter-county this year, you saw Kerry coming in against Mayo, they were so lethargic in that quarter-final but playing Dublin, they were so competitive, they were flying.”

And Keith agrees that there is something about the knockout stages that brings out the best in the Mohill men: “Knockout stages are different - you just see a different mentality from everyone. Every game is important, you can’t say they aren’t but you can just see a difference coming in the games.

“In fairness the crowds that have come to Pairc Sean for the championship this year and the build-ups to games, it has been so enjoyable. Hopefully this one turns out better than last year.”