By Cian O’Connell

“If you haven't expectation in life you haven't got anything,” is Leitrim manager Terry Hyland’s honest assessment.

Responding to a question about whether the 2019 Allianz Football League promotion winning campaign has led to an extra burden of expectancy, Hyland offers an interesting answer.

Saturday’s draw against Derry, a team who beat Leitrim soundly twice last year, supplied encouragement, but Hyland remains grounded and focused.

“It is a matter of a belief factor and trying to match up to what is in front of you,” Hyland adds. “That is what we have been working at in the last couple of months.

“We have only played one game in the League, we have only one point on the board. So there is nothing to shout about yet.

“We'd be happy enough. If somebody said going would we be happy with the result we would have been, but on balance of the game we probably should have come back with two. We didn't, so that is the way it goes.”

Such a pragmatic approach has served Leitrim well under Hyland’s guidance. Several injuries impacted Leitrim’s preparations for the current League campaign, but they have ploughed on defiantly.

A string of different ailments meant only seven of the players who started the Allianz Football League Division Four Final started against Derry again in the Division Three opener. “Five of them were injured, it isn't as if they've left,” Hyland states. “They were there, it is just unfortunate for us they are injured and we didn't have use of them.

“We had five guys who started or come on in Croke Park - four would have started and one came on, they were out on the day with injury.

“I think there has been a great myth about this, it makes headlines. People say there is six players gone, 10 players gone, 15 players gone, but when you are running with squads of 31, 32, or 33.

“It is like most things in life. The guys from one to 15 are content. If you lose one of them there is a reason, an injury, they are gone travelling. Normally one to 15 are happy enough. From 15 to 26 they are reasonably happy because they are getting a certain amount of game time.

“They are coming on in games and starting in games. From 26 to the rest of the panel they don't get much game time or see much future in it, you are going to lose them. That has always been the way. I'm 20 years involved in inter-county football, I've never seen it any different.

“It does seem to be making a headline, I suppose every year there is a different headline about something in the GAA, it just happens to be that this year.”

Hyland is adamant about the benefits, both in the short and medium term, for Leitrim to be operating at a higher grade. “Of course it is and the more exposure players get to a higher level the more the expectations go up number one,” Hyland remarks.

“Plus they know what they have to do to stay up there and to compete. This is what we have been trying to instil since we went down.

“At the end of the day we are only a little more than 12 months in Leitrim. People think it is the second season, but timewise we are only in the month of January.

“We are about 14 months into where we are going with them, but as I said at the outset it is where they want to be. Still when you go up there you have to hold your hand up and compete. We have a lot of competing to do yet.”

How the Leitrim panel has reacted to Hyland’s promptings is a source of optimism. Despite the improvements Hyland emphasises the importance of a united approach.

“The buy in is for themselves, at the end of the day all we can do is enable guys to do something,” Hyland comments.

“They have to take up the mantle and to run with it themselves. At this point that is what they are doing in Leitrim, but they have to continue to do it of course. Management is only a tool, you can give lads methods, you can show them how they can do things better for themselves.

“When 15 guys cross the line - this is sometimes where the myth of the manager being great or poor actually has very little variance on what happens on the pitch bar getting them prepared properly.

“If they are prepared properly and the game plan is what they can do when they are out there, it is up to them when they hit the pitch to do it.

“If you sat down on paper looked at Division Two and Division Four there probably would be very little difference in them. Maybe that is due to a balancing out with everybody in Division Three and Two after Division One.

“There may be an element of that as the so called weaker teams have got a bit stronger, their preparation is a bit better. They are fit to compete. Maybe the teams in Division Two aren't fit to step on once they come into Division One.”

During the past decade the third tier in the League has been especially exciting. Results have fluctuated, fortunes can change quickly.

“It is like the Intermediate Championship in any county,” Hyland says. “In the Senior Championship in most counties there will always be a favourite and two or three that may be or won't be, but put 13 teams into an Intermediate Championship and they will all feel that they can compete in that and win it.

“A, they are after winning a Junior or, B, they have been building to win it for a few years. It is a leveller playing field.”

Through his work with various club, Cavan underage and senior teams, Hyland still finds pleasure in the journey. Different challenges have been embraced, but pleasure can be attained.

“There is and I don't have many medals to back it up, but I do like to see lads develop,” Hyland admits. “I like to see young people - even outside of their football - with the GAA how they can develop and how we can help them in their college or work life.

“That is the kick I get out of it, not about pats on the back or pictures in the paper. It is about being with the people who you know that these fellas, if you can make them better than when you came in - that is the satisfaction.”