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Leitrim's year in review and going forward:
For umpteen years we've all spoke how important it is for Leitrim to get out of Division 4. Finally we've achieved this. This was the main priority for the year so it was a brilliant success. This was both a mixture of having a proper manager and backroom staff along with our best players committing to the county team which hadn't been happening under the previous managements. Our last game of the year was a 9 point defeat to a top-end Div 2 team. We will be playing Div 3 here so you would expect Clare to also defeat them by 3 or 4 points. So we need to make up the difference of 4 or 5 points to stay in the division. This can be done by getting a few lads involved that weren't on the panel this year, 6 moths of proper S&C, another year with proper coaching under Terry and the experience that the players would have learned this year. It is imperative that we keep all our main players together for next year.
We may have lost but that day in Croke Park will live long in the memories and hopefully inspire the current players and those of the future to keep plugging away and trying to get better.
Doing so well in the league nearly lulled our supporters into a false sense of security and put our (mine included) expectations way to high. In hindsight and what we have seen Roscommon do since we could not have expected to compete with them coming from where we were in 2018. But to lose by the margin and in the manner we did was more than disappointing. The managerial decisions made by Terry were bizzare and I still can't figure them out. For example, McTague from Aughawillan was hung out to dry on his debut, in a position he never played before and we haven't seen him since. Now this is a player that anyone who seen the club championship in Leitrim last year would have earmarked a solution to our fullback issue which has been going on for years, yet his confidence has to be effected by the charade. Add this to then starting Sean McWeeney as a conventional forward and leaving real forwards on the bench - which can't be good for morale especially when it wasn't working. The one that really frustrated me especially after what happened with McTague was starting Oisin McCaffery against Clare when the dogs on the street knew that he had been away enjoying himself in Europe for two weeks before the game. How can any serious inter-county team start any player with that sort of preparation? Unsurprisingly he had to be substituted at half-time as he clearly wasn't at the pace of the game.
One thing we showed throughout the league is that we have loads of attacking talent who all on their day are well able to take on any defence. The issue with them is that it can be quiet individualistic at times and that our forwards workrate badly needs to improve. Our scoring rates are massive and yet many myself included would say we haven't been getting the best out of the likes of Darragh Rooney and Gary Plunkett this is along with the fact that Jack Heslin, McGloin and Flanagan were constantly injured and Mark Plunkett was being used as a centre back (which no one could have predicted) when his best position is no.11 in my opinion. This is also without Keith Beirne even if people will debate the right or wrongs of why he wasn't involved with the panel. Think of what his free taking would have done for us alone. So from an attacking point of view we have so much to look forward to. We have a few young guns like Niall McGovern, Ciaran Cullen, Riordan O'Rourke and Mark Diffley who will be in and around the panel next year. Conor Gaffney will also be back fit so he will be another option I would assume.
In defence we haven't settled on either a Centre back or a full back which is a nightmare as it effects the whole spine of our team. Now once again there is positive talk that the likes of Thomas Quinn, Chris Guckian and even Paul Brennan could all come in next year as the management have been in contact with them. In my eyes even if we got 2 of those boys it would transform our whole team. It would mean that Paddy Maguire would have help as he has once again been tremendous this year with little help when it comes to man marking. It could also free up Shane Quinn to go back to Wing forward where he could drop deep as a sweeper again and start attacks from deep. They would also bring with them standards and experiences that our young team badly needs along with a physicality that were are crying out for.
Midfield is a problem. It seems as if they management don't have a clue who their best option are here. We seen the debacle with playing McTague here in Roscommon but apart from that Oisin McCaffery in his own club wouldn't be viewed as a midfielder. Pearce Dolan has won three county championships with his club at a young age as a midfielder but yet isn't trusted here for the county, which could be due to a lack of power which hopefully he will develop over the winter but playing him as a full forward was strange. Mark Plunkett and Shane Moran have been messed about between midfield and different positions aswell. Personally I think we need to nail this down. I'd go with Pearce Dolan and one other. Next year we will have the likes of Aaron Hoare, Conor Cullen, Niall McGovern to provide more competition along with Donal Wrynn, Mark Plunkett, Dean McGovern, Shane Moran, Sean Flanagan etc. Even Cillian McGloin could be an option here. But we need to settle on a combination and stop chopping and changing.
On a side note I must say over the last two years we have developed Conor Reynolds and Aidan Flynn brilliantly. I single these two players out as not too many were predicting these lads at underage to become inter-county footballers. In a small county getting players like these is a huge bonus and if we could unearth 1 or 2 more like this it would be invaluable.
S&C is one area where if the players really focus on over the next 6 months than we can see a real improvement in standards as they will physically be able to do things they couldn't this year. I do think this is an area where we need more outside help though as Enda Lyons is still very inexperienced in this role and it would be to his benefit in the long run and the teams in the short run if we had somebody with more experience in charge of this area. We also can't afford to have some of our main players injured. Jack Heslin and Ryan O'Rourke have been suffering from Hamstring injuries since their U21 days and they really need to be sorted. Cillian McGloin, Fergal McTague, Oisin Madden,Sean Flanagan and Damien Moran would also be great options but none of them had a sustained run injury free this year. In a county of our size we can't afford this.
Lots to be hopeful about going into 2020. Some class teams are going to be coming to Pairc Sean so hopefully it will inspire all our top footballers to fully commit over the winter and impress in the club championship.
OnTheBank (Australia) - Posts: 170 - 26/06/2019 13:24:04
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