Leitrim star McNulty helps launch Londis partnership with UCD GAA

Barry McNulty’s standing in the wider GAA world is such that it was no surprise to see the Glencar Manorhamilton and Leitrim star line up alongside new Mayo All Star Sam Callinan and Dublin full-back Theo Clancy on Thursday as UCD GAA announced a new two year partnership with Londis

Londis has officially been announced as the new title sponsor of UCD GAA in a landmark two-year partnership. The Londis brand will be proudly emblazoned on the jerseys of UCD GAA Club's Football, Hurling, Camogie and Handball teams. This high-profile partnership unites one of Ireland’s best-known national and local retail brands with a club that has one of the longest and proudest traditions in Gaelic Games.

Speaking to the Observer at the launch, Barry, who was named joint captain of the UCD Sigerson Cup team last year, is definitely looking forward to the campaign: “Great to have such a big company as Londis on board but this is it, the last roll of the dice. This is my fifth year in UCD, I'm staying on for an integrated masters, finishing off an engineering degree, so this is my final year.”

After missing the entire Sigerson Cup campaign in 2026 due to a hamstring injury, the same injury that derailed his involvement in the 2025 when he scored both the equalising point that sent that year’s semi-final before pulling his hamstring when scoring the decisive spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, Barry is hoping for better fortunes in 2027!

“Especially after last year, not getting to kick a ball with injury,” agreed the Leitrim man, “because the last two years, getting injured in the semi-final with the hamstring again, so just want to give it one good rattle to hopefully get across the line. 2025 was a big year for me, I suppose that was kind of my breakout year, if you want to call it.

“I was in good form and Sigerson gave me a great platform to build confidence. That was a good year that year, Tom (Prior) and I got into the Sigerson All-Star 15 team but to be honest, watching that game was horrible after pulling the hamstring and taking the penalty to put us through, it was very cruel all right. So just using that, as maybe a bit of motivation to bring into this year after not playing at all last year and just trying to maybe push on this year with it.”

Speaking at the launch, Conor Hayes, Londis Sales Director, said “UCD GAA is a community in its own right, bringing together students from every county in Ireland and giving them a home away from home. Gaelic Games have a unique ability to connect people and we’re proud to support these players as they compete at the highest level of third-level sport."

Ger Brennan, UCD GAA Executive, added “We’re thrilled to welcome Londis as our new title sponsor. UCD GAA has a proud tradition across Football, Hurling, Camogie and Handball, and partners like Londis allow us to keep giving our players the support they need to perform on the pitch while making the most of their time in college.

“Londis shares our values of community and belonging, and having their backing across all the different codes and teams is a huge boost for everyone involved with the club. We’re grateful to Londis for their support and excited about what we can achieve together.”

For Barry, settling into the UCD GAA set-up was a challenge but one he believes that Leitrim players are capable of rising to: “Obviously, you're going into a fairly stacked dressing room, we've Sam here as well after getting an All-Star, so we're not short of big-name players or people like that. Coming into first year, you really had to earn your stripes, but you've great relationships with them lads, the likes of Theo and Sam- we've come up since freshers together, we'd be quite close.

“All those lads that are around my age group, there are a good crop of us. It's difficult but it's a good confidence boost too, I suppose you played the first few games of league, particularly your first year there, and you started realising, ‘God, I can mix it with these boys’ - it's difficult but it's a good confidence boost too, you're seeing that more and more with Leitrim in the last three or four years.

“There'll be more young lads coming up that are doing well at freshers level, like Jack Kelly, Eanna McNamara, Paul Honeyman, all these lads are mixing it at freshers level. Andy Moran was good in that regard around that time, pushing you hard to compete at Sigerson level. I heard Donal Casey talking about it recently there, him being pushed by Andy to go to Sigerson training.

“The idea of it is daunting but I think we've moved out of that mindset, I think Leitrim football in a whole, we're progressing to a lot better place, we no longer see ourselves as maybe inferior to going into these situations. To be honest, you'd back yourself anywhere and it's a good enough attitude to have. But that's down to management and even Stephen the last few years pushing that on even more. I suppose Andy created that at the start, that culture, that mindset.”

This early part of the year is a tough time for players combining Sigerson and inter-county football and Barry admits he has been a challenge for him in the past: “It is tough balancing that, but to be fair, the lads here in UCD have looked after me. I haven't kicked a ball in the league yet. You’ve seen Jack Kelly and Tom Plunkett and them lads playing in the Leagues, they have to earn their stripes but UCD are looking after me in that regard.

“I've got a good five, six weeks off-season block in there for hamstring rehab-wise so I'm really happy with the amount of that now, I'm just starting to get back going on the pitch now. It is maybe the first time in a while that I've had a nice lead up to the start of the year so I'm hoping that that should stand me now come January, when things are really getting going with Sigerson and then you’ll have the National League thrown into the mix as well.”

Balancing that isn’t easy with both McNulty and Theo Clancy missing UCD’s Sigerson campaign last year with injury but Barry is realistic about the demands: “It's very hard to balance it - I suppose if you're with a bigger county, you might be able to rest a lad and give him minutes, you could be able to bring someone in to maybe cover that man. But you know yourself, in Division Four every game's a scrap, there's no game where you're like ‘we can rest Barry today’ - that's unfortunately not the reality, so it's just about managing the body and trying to find that balance, which, unfortunately, I haven't found yet.”

This early part of the year is a tough time for players combining Sigerson and inter-county football and Barry admits he has been a challenge for him in the past: “It is tough balancing that, but to be fair, the lads here in UCD have looked after me. I haven't kicked a ball in the league yet. You’ve seen Jack Kelly and Tom Plunkett and them lads playing in the Leagues, they have to earn their stripes, but UCD are looking after me in that regard.

“I've got a good five, six weeks off-season block in there for hamstring rehab-wise so I'm really happy with the amount of that now, I'm just starting to get back going on the pitch now. It is maybe the first time in a while that I've had a nice lead up to the start of the year so I'm hoping that that should stand me now come January, when things are really getting going with Sigerson and then you’ll have the National League thrown into the mix as well.”

Balancing that isn’t easy with both McNulty and Theo Clancy missing UCD’s Sigerson campaign last year with injury but Barry is realistic about the demands: “It's very hard to balance it, I suppose if you're with a bigger county, you might be able to rest a lad and give him minutes, you could be able to bring someone in to maybe cover that man. But you know yourself, in Division Four every game's a scrap, there's no game where you're like ‘we can rest Barry today’ - that's unfortunately not the reality, so it's just about managing the body and trying to find that balance, which, unfortunately, I haven't found yet.”

Looking ahead to the 2027 season, Barry wants to see Leitrim make a push for promotion in Division 4 of the Allianz NFL: “We haven't got to that time of year to sit down and set our goals, but for me personally, looking at this year going forward, and Sigerson is high up in the list, and obviously Division 4 is always a massive one, it's always huge. Last year, we were too up and down in the National League, we'd turn in a good performance against Longford or we'd turn in a good second half against London.

“Then we'd go down to Tipperary on a wet day and just do nothing, barely show up, barely come out of the dressing room. The conditions didn't suit us that day, but no day's gonna be perfect. Consistency is obviously what we'll be striving for every game, and if we're consistent, then there's no reason why we can't get promoted. The way the season is now, you have three championships - you have the league, then you have Connacht, then you have the Tailteann Cup so over to London, so we know that's a challenge in its own right, having to be on form there is obviously going to be massive.”

SEE NEXT WEEK’S LEITRIM OBSERVER FOR A MORE EXTENSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BARRY MCNULTY