Devastated Poacher had sights set on Connacht title, not just Galway scalp
Connacht SFC Semi-Final reaction: Leitrim manager slams disrespectful punditry ahead of semi-final clash and sets sights on Tailteann Cup campaign
Few people may have shared his self-belief in the lead-up to the game but Steven Poacher left Heartland Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada on Saturday devastated that his Leitrim team had not shocked reigning champions Galway and disappointed his team weren’t contemplating a Connacht Final appearance.
Speaking to the Observer after Saturday’s 1-20 to 2-12 loss to five-in-a-row chasing Galway, Steven agreed that there was pride to be taken in Leitrim’s performance but that, at that moment, he was devastated the Green & Gold had not got across the line and into a first Provincial Final since 2000.
“I probably will be proud tomorrow or the next day,” Steven told the Observer, “but now, the overriding emotion is that we could be in a Connacht final, it's devastation. I'd actually organise to stay down here tonight and go to Castlebar tomorrow and see that game tomorrow and plot our way to Connacht title.
“People on the outside might say, that man's deluded but, no, I'm not. I watched Galway last year in Park Esler in Newry, I watched the way Down took them apart on the kick-out and I thought that was the area we could get at. We have done, honestly, the guts of 25-30 hours of video work on this group, on this Galway team.”
The Leitrim boss also took issue with the way his team were being portrayed in the media and social media in the run-up to the semi-final, both from Galway and within the county: “I just know myself that we were disrespected coming in here today - some of the punditry, some of the media coverage around it, some of it very derogatory.
“I think there was a Galway podcast that said ‘back in the day we used to say that Leitrim would be beaten with a phone call’ and the game would be over in 10 minutes. Even some of our own people, some of our own players from the past, were talking that sort of plucky Leitrim thing.
“Today these young lads showed that they were close and you know what, the game plan that we put in place here today, every one of them executed to the letter of the law. I thought we were amazing on kick-outs, particularly on both keepers, Gleeson and Flaherty, I thought we took them apart on the kick-outs.
“But we didn't capitalise on them, that's the problem, we didn't capitalise on them. That's the next step - really being ruthless in our attack. I thought we defended like a Division 1 team in the first half and we probably attacked like a Division 4 team.”
Perhaps what was most impressive about Leitrim’s performance was the way they kept reacting to whatever Galway threw at them and Steven again underlined the importance of momentum within a game: “That's the game you're looking now, the way the game has gone.
“People were saying Sligo outscored you 10-3 in the last quarter, well we outscored Sligo 2-5 to 0-1 in the second quarter, that’s the way the game is now, the game's all about momentum, it's all about swings and roundabouts. What we've got to learn as a young group is the momentum will go away from you and then it'll come back.
“When it's going away from you, try and stay in the game, when it's going with you, punish and today we probably just didn't punish them enough. I thought we stayed in the game very well, a lot of good turnovers, Conor Reynolds was amazing on Finnerty today.
“I thought he was an amazing performance from him on a player who I think, at the minute, is up there with Clifford, one of the best footballers in the country. From my point of view, that's the way the game is now, it's momentum, it's momentum.”
Belief has also been a recurring theme for Leitrim teams down through the years and Poacher agreed that getting the team believing is part of the job: “Jack Kelly said to me after the match ‘you've got us believing again’, that's what we want, we want to get them believing because without belief, you have nothing.
“I think if you go into sport with no belief, you're wasting your time but these boys believe and please God we can kick on from this now. The last time a Division 4 team beat a Division 1 team in the championship, myself and Daniel St Leger were involved when Carlow beat Kildare in 2018, I was coaching the team and Daniel was playing at six and we beat Kildare by ten points in Tullamore.
“I told them today that that record is still there and it'd be nice to break that record today and become the second Division 4 team to beat a Division 1 team in Championship football for the first time in eight years, but for me, belief is something that probably I've installed a lot of young people.
“I've worked with young people all my life through teaching and my biggest thing is that when a year eight comes through the door of our school, the first thing you do is build your self-esteem, you build their self-esteem, you build their confidence, that's what we're doing with this young group.”
Next up for Leitrim is the Tailteann Cup with the draw on Monday and Steven is determined to push Leitrim on: “The Tailteann Cup is not where we want to be but unfortunately it is where we are so we have to just look at that. That's the big thing now, it's dust ourselves down, it'll probably take a day or two to get over that today.
“But Monday, when the draw comes out, it'll whet the appetite again and please God we get a home draw. It'd be nice to get a home draw, the boys like Pairc Sean, they like playing here, there's a nice atmosphere and the pitch suits us because we've got a lot of young lads who like space, they like the freedom.
“Take a lot of belief, a lot of heart, we're playing a Division 1 team there and a team that's among the All-Ireland contenders and we're going toe-to-toe with them- we've got to take confidence from that, we have to.”