It has been a good year for Leitrim football. The women footballers won the intermediate All-Ireland two weeks ago and leading forward Ailbhe Clancy was named PwC GPA Player of the Month for August.
Then at the weekend, the under-16 boys won the Fr Manning Cup – the GAA’s longest running intercounty juvenile competition – for the first time since 1990, and back in March, the men secured promotion to Division Three of the AFL.
Pride of place though goes to the women, first winners of the Mary Quinn Cup – named in 2007 after a Leitrim woman – for intermediate All-Ireland champions, and now they have won it again.
It capped a remarkable year for the team, who failed to get promotion from Division Four of the league, but who battled through the championship to defeat in the final a Tyrone side on their way to Division One next season.
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In common with nearly all of their championship matches, the final was hard won and Clancy’s fingerprints were all over it, with the forward scoring 2-3 in the final to bring her championship total to 5-16.
She recalls the disappointment of the league but says that it had the effect of concentrating minds for the championship.
“We didn’t get out of Division Four, lost the semi-final and that was a really tough week because promotion had been one of our goals at the start of the year. It almost helped us, though, because we sat down the Wednesday after the league loss against Limerick and everyone spoke.
“Management might have said a few words and the floor was open to players. I wouldn’t be one to speak up too much – I normally do my talking on the pitch – but because of the manner in which we lost – we scored a goal to go two up but they got one in the last minute because I lost the ball – I felt a lot of personal responsibility and needed to say something.
“I remember saying that there was an All-Ireland in this team and we had the players to do it. We just had to work hard and we did and went unbeaten in the championship.”
It was a formidable achievement for the team, which has a skeleton panel of 25 players – something manager Jonny Garrity, a Fintona man who was up against his own county in the final, has said worked in their favour despite the obvious injury risks.
A glance at Leitrim’s progress demonstrates how intense the championship journey was. From provincial to All-Ireland finals they played six matches, winning three by a point, two by two points and just one with anything to spare – the All-Ireland group match against Wicklow.
On top of that, they twice had to play the same opponents for a second time, beating Roscommon in the Connacht final by two, 3-12 to 0-19, and then again in the All-Ireland quarter-final, 3-13 to 3-11. They also edged out Tyrone by a point in the All-Ireland group phase, 4-12 to 5-8, before squeezing past them in the All-Ireland, 3-11 to 3-10.
There is probably nothing harder in championship than having to face a team you have narrowly beaten for a second time within a few weeks.
“It’s always difficult to play teams twice,” says Clancy, “but you do get a better understanding of the team although they too have a better understanding of you. It’s always enjoyable to build that rivalry but when you beat a team in the group stages like we did with Tyrone, you always feel you can beat them again.”
It was a close-run thing in a match that fluctuated from start to finish but which Leitrim led by seven in the third quarter before having to survive a big Tyrone comeback, which ran out of road – just about – by the end.
Clancy is adamant that the team never lost confidence.
“Honestly, no. Not that we were overconfident or thought that we had this game in the bag but we had confidence in our team and management and even though we gave a few people hear attacks, letting them back again, I just knew that we could push on.
“Something similar happened against Wexford and a lot of our games have been close calls so I had complete confidence.”
In a year’s time, Leitrim will be in an apparently daunting situation, playing spring football in the league basement but moving straight into senior championship when the season changes, something to which Clancy, a 10-year intercounty veteran, is greatly looking forward.
“I was saying earlier that I’m excited to go back and face that challenge. You want to get out of your comfort zone and our focus will be to win Division Four next year and transition into the Connacht championship. I still feel I haven’t reached my potential yet and that individually and collectively, we have a lot of areas we can improve on.
“We’re not going up to senior to make up the numbers. We want to play against the best teams and challenge.”
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