THE LAST POINT: Stats & optimism clash ahead of Tribe quest
THE LAST POINT
Nothing gets a county revved up quite like an unexpected championship win. I imagine anyone with a drop of Westmeath blood must feel about a foot taller this week after their second ever championship win over neighbours Meath last Sunday. And over the past week and a half, Leitrim people were no stranger to that feeling - certainly that was the vibe I got almost universally from the Leitrim folk who came across my path since Sligo fell victim to Steven Poacher’s Leitrim in Markievicz Park.
Most conversations I had in the past week started with ‘well, what did you think about last Sunday’ – when I was forced to admit I wasn’t there in Markievicz as I was following the exploits of the Ladies in Birr, it wasn’t anger or ridicule I received but rather understanding pity that myself and Willie Donnellan had missed a day not to be missed.
It was an utter transformation from the lead-up to Markievicz Park – I could count on the fingers of one hand how many people had brought up how Leitrim might fare against Sligo and it is safe to say that there wasn’t an outbreak of runaway optimism around the county in the lead-up to April 12. That lack of optimism was reflected in the sparse attendance in Markievicz – the Fuel Protests certainly hit attendances at games all around the country, not just in Sligo, and fans probably judged that driving up to Sligo, at a time when you couldn’t be sure if there was going to be fuel in the petrol pumps, mightn’t be the wisest thing to do.
Maybe that made the victory all the sweeter and the big difference I’ve noticed over the past week is how many have been completely energised by what Steven Poacher’s team achieved – am I going to Pairc Sean? How will they do against Galway? Any team news? Those are the questions along with a general wonderment about the talisman that is Barry McNulty, the Glencar Manorhamilton clubman’s GAA.ie Player of the Week award reflecting glory back on a county basking in the warmth of a championship victory.
For all the joy and celebrations, optimism is more muted ahead of Saturday’s Connacht SFC Semi-Final in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada and that’s more to do with the fact that it is reigning champions Galway who are coming to town. Three years ago, Galway had 23 points to spare and just four of that Leitrim team saw action against Sligo, a startling transformation in player personnel.
When I first landed in Leitrim, Galway were the team most feared by GAA people in the county, the institutional memory still strong of what Mahon, Purcell and Stockwell did to the legendary Packie McGarty led Leitrim team of the 1950s and 1960s. Strange thing is, Mayo probably inflicted heavier, more damaging defeats but it was Galway who tended to break our hearts when we had a good team and not much has changed down through the years.
John O’Mahony’s Leitrim had a four year span where they met the Tribe every year in the Championship between 1993 and 1996 – the record standing at two wins apiece and one draw, almost the definition of a stalemate. But it was Galway’s victory in Pairc Sean in 1995 that still leaves this reporter shaken, the visitors snatching three late points to end Leitrim’s defence of the Nestor Cup when the game was all but won.
Those incredible days sprung to mind when an incredible stat popped up on my Facebook feed during the week, the algorithm working the way it intended and not sending me down a conspiracy rabbit-hole. Thanks to the excellent Galway Footballers Homepage, I learned that 1994 was the last time Leitrim put back-to-back Connacht SFC victories together! That statistic was so startling that I had to check it out but, unfortunately, Galway Footballers were right on the money. 1994 was also the last time we beat Galway, the last time we beat Mayo so you can understand why Steven Poacher is evoking memories of 1994 as Padraic Joyce’s team come to town.
In the way that only true footballing fanatics can, Galway Footballers Homepage details stats from past eras and two really stood out. First, between 1991 and 1994, Galway had just one Connacht SFC victory to their name and that came in Ruislip against London. Hard to believe nowadays.
The other crept up on me, concentrating as I was on the fact that Galway are going for a record equalling five-in-a-row Nestor Cup victories and it is startling fact that a win next Saturday would see them reach an incredible 11th Provincial decider in a row, in an era when Mayo and Roscommon have been real powerhouses and making a Connacht Final is no easy feat. Galway have managed 11 finals a row once before but they trail the legendary Mayo side of the late 20s and 30s who contested the Connacht Final 13 years in a row between 1928 and 1940!
So in a round-about way, what I’m trying to say is that Leitrim are up against it but that is nothing new! We were up against it in Markievicz Park and pulled off a famous victory. Unfortunately, Galway aren’t Sligo and the one thing I’m sure of is that Padraic Joyce will have a plan to stop Barry McNulty lifting the Leitrim crowd as he did against Mayo last year.
We can talk all we want about formations and tactics but Jim Gavin’s new rules have brought one simple rule to prominence once more – if you don’t win the midfield battle, you won’t win the game and Galway, with their towering and mobile legion of midfielders, will engage in a ferocious battle to gain primary possession and then, and only then, will their vaunted forwards come into play.
The smart money is on Galway and for good reason. But the smart money was also on Dublin in Aughrim and, by all accounts, a Wicklow team Leitrim had on a rack in the League came within a whisker of downing the Dubs so who knows what might happen. Leitrim will need to play with an icy ferocity, not getting carried away with the occasion but riding a fine line between abandon and caution.
Many predict a cakewalk for Galway, and that may come to pass, but if Leitrim can rise themselves for a second time and summon the spirit of 94, we might just end up with an occasion to remember!