Exciting times for Leitrim Gaels 

By Cian O’Connell

“It is what we keep saying and the lads keep saying, we're still playing football in November,” Leitrim Gaels manager Mal Guckian reflects.

A club founded in 1997 captured the Leitrim SFC title for the first time last month. Now Leitrim Gaels face Galway standard bearers Maigh Cuilinn in an AIB Connacht Club semi-final at Pearse Stadium on Sunday. “We're in unchartered waters, we were in unchartered waters a couple of weeks ago, being in a county final for the first time,” Guckian adds.

“We're representing our community and club going into the Connacht semi-final, and Leitrim clubs as a whole. Yet again, it is unchartered waters for us, but you've to experience these things to enjoy them. We will put our best foot forward.”

Guckian’s passion for Leitrim Gaels endures. Player, coach, administrator, Guckian has carried out nearly every role. So, he speaks fondly about others with a similar desire for Leitrim Gaels. That is what kept them going, even when times were tough.

Winning a county senior crown mattered so deeply in different ways. “That is going back to the founders in '97, the committees all the way through - it is the same ilk of people that are involved all the way through,” Guckian responds.

“They might have been on committees are have been coaching underage or involved in senior set-ups. It is a merry go round, the same faces, the same people you're seeing doing the same work, always. That day we won the county; it was recognition for all of that.

“My biggest memory was coming back into the village that evening, seeing the troves of people that were lining all the way into the village. You'd bonfires, just a feel-good factor of the whole lot. It was amazing.”

An intermediate triumph in 2019 illustrated Leitrim Gaels potential. Encouraging moments happened in the intervening years too. “In our first year senior, in 2020, we got to the quarter-finals that year,” Guckian says.

“Then, we pushed on to the semi-finals for two years in a row, but in '23 we lost a cohort of lads, like many clubs do, to travelling - Australia and Canada. I came back myself last year in '24 with them and it was about trying to blood a lot of young lads, very young lads, who were 18 or 19.

“We got into a quarter-final with eight or nine U20s playing in the championship. It was a building thing for the first year. Luckily enough, all of them lads bought into it this year, and they put a lot of work into it. We got over the line in the end.”

The Jones brothers added style and substance to Leitrim Gaels panel. “Their experience, know how, and professionalism to it, and they are great footballers,” Guckian replies.

“They're really good GAA lads, they've got stuck in, they've helped at underage in the community whenever they can. They're always about.”

The strong connection with underage teams counts. “That is what the GAA is about and the club is about,” Guckian remarks.

“In the village and the surrounding areas, the amount of work put in during the two weeks leading up to it. There wasn't a pole that didn't have a flag or a good luck message. It was just decorated for the couple of kilometres we have around us, from start to finish. Massive emphasis went into it. There was a feel-good thing about it.”

Helping the next generation is critical. Guckian is adamant about affording young footballers opportunities to develop and improve. “We've started to get a cohort of young lads through,” Guckian says.

“We're a young club. Around 2010ish we started getting crops of young lads, we'd an underage structure that was started by many more in the club. We put an emphasis on that. A lot of the boys that won a junior medal, back then in 2011, they're still playing today too. Others have gone abroad.

“We've good youth coming through, which is what you want for every club because we're a small area. Our underage is amalgamated with a neighbouring team, Kiltubrid, this year for the first time. With the one school and numbers, we're doing a bit there.”

The partnership should be beneficial. “You're giving every young lad football,” Guckian says. “You might be able to put in two teams with amalgamation. Your first team could be playing Division One football in U13s, U15s, U17s. You could have a second team in Division Two, Three or Four - whatever it is.

“So, every lad is getting football. There is an awful difference between a lad at 13 and 17 and 20. You've got to keep nurturing them at all age groups.”

Throughout the decades, Guckian has always been ready, willing, and able to take advice. “I'll be learning every week,” Guckian says.

“Things change every week or every year. We've new rules in this year so it was adapting to them, getting know how. Other people have ideas, coaching. Everything is just always changing. There is always something new, something positive to add, in any set-up.”

Galway U20 manager Kevin Johnson, who guided Tourlestrane, Ballintubber, and Corofin to county glory has been an influence recently in Guckian’s backroom set-up. “Kevin came in for a couple of weeks before the final,” Guckian explains.

“His know how and experience, he has been there. He can back it up. It is great to get whatever bits of help that we can get going along.”

Ultimately, these are exciting times for Leitrim Gaels. Guckian is simply embracing the adventure. “The excitement will start building now this week,” he says.

“When that game was done on Sunday between Shamrocks and Maigh Cuilinn, it means it will only start building nicely, I'd imagine.”

Sunday’s trip to Salthill is the next item on Leitrim Gaels’ agenda.