Leitrim Feile Hurling Final

The Leitrim Feile Hurling Final, Carrick Hurling v Cluainín Iomaínt Takes Place In The Bee Park, Manorhamilton Tomorrow, Wednesday evening 4th May  at 7-30pm.

 

 

 

Supporters Club Bus to Galway

Leitrim GAA Supporters Club will charter a bus to next Sunday’s Connacht Championship encounter with Galway in Pearse Stadium, Salthill, if there are sufficient numbers interested. Anybody who wishes to book a seat on the bus is advised to contact Jerome McWeeney ASAP at 0876370051. Bookings need to be confirmed by Thursday evening latest.

Health And Wellness Event – The Landmark Hotel Central

St Mary’s GAA are delighted to announce their Health & Wellness Event at The Landmark Hotel Central, Sunday 24th April. Registration at 12.30, first Key speaker at 1.30pm.
We look forward to inviting Jack Kavanagh who talks about life since his spinal cord injury. Rory O’Connor – Rory’s Stories, his mental health journey and the importance of a good laugh!
We have much more speakers who speak on the following topic’s Motivation, Breaking Boundaries, Challenges of life, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Coaching beyond the sports field, Fitness, Food & Nutrition, Alcohol & Drug Awareness and the importance off reaching out.

Leitrim Team v London Announced

Matchday Team and Squad

Leitrim V London (Connacht Championship)

Date: 17.4.2022

Venue: McGovern Park, Ruislip, London.

  1. Darren Maxwell
  2. Mark Diffley
  3. Donal Casey
  4. Paddy Maguire
  5. James Rooney
  6. Shane Quinn
  7. David Bruen (Captain)
  8. Pearce Dolan
  9. Donal Wrynn
  10. Domhnaill Flynn
  11. Mark Plunkett
  12. Riordan O Rourke
  13. Ryan O Rourke
  14. Shane Moran
  15. Darragh Rooney

 

  1. Brendan Flynn
  2. Evan Sweeney
  3. Conor Dolan
  4. Conor Reynolds
  5. Ciaran Cullen
  6. Jack Heslin
  7. Conor Farrell
  8. Emlyn Mulligan
  9. Cillian McGloin
  10. Aaron Hoare
  11. Oisin McCaffrey

Cycling From Leitrim To London For Charity

Pictured are the cyclists at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmuda on Tuesday prior to their departure for Mc Govern Park in Ruislip and their aim is to raise as much money as possible for three charities – North West Hospice, Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association and St Patrick’s  Hospital, Carrick On Shannon. Donations can be made through www.leitrim2london.com

40 Years Ago They Made History

40 Years Ago This Year Leitrim Went To London For the First Time.

It was a very nervous Leitrim team that went to play London  almost forty years ago on the 23rd May 1982. Leitrim had reason to be nervous as in 1977 London caused a sensation by beating Leitrim in 1977 in Carrick on Shannon by 0-9 to 0-6. 1982 was the first time Leitrim played in the Connacht Championship outside Ireland and made a piece of history. Leitrim had prepared well this time. The Dublin based players trained at UCD with the Dublin based Kerry players under the watchful eye of the Master, Micheal  O Muircheartaigh. The Leitrim team were flying.

Forty years ago it was  a novelty flying to any match. The travel arrangements were published in the Leitrim Observer. The Leitrim panel departed Dublin Airport at 11.15 am on Saturday morning and were met at Heathrow Airport by members of the Leitrim Peoples Association and members of the London County Board.  From the airport we travelled to Ruislip for a light training session followed by a lunch organised by the London Board. After the lunch the team travelled to their hotel, the Tara Hotel , where the team would relax and watch television. There was great excitement in the lobby when Jimmy White the well known snooker player  appeared  and signed a few autographs for Leitrim people  on the back of Carrolls cigarette boxes. On Sunday the team left the hotel at 1.00pm for Ruislip . After the match the team were the guests of honour at a function jointly organised by the Leitrim Peoples Association and the London Co Board in the Irish Centre in Camden town.

At the time Big Tom was the King of Country Music in Ireland. On the Saturday evening some of the  music heads in the team went to a concert by the other King, BB King. They just got back in time for the roll call .

Before we left the TARA HOTEL for the match we posed for a photo taken by Willie Donnellan. We were joined in the photo by Tony Ward the former rugby star who played with Munster Leinster Ireland and the British Irish Lions and was also European Rugby player of the year in 1979.  Tony was over in London for the FA Cup Final. Leitrim were moving up in the sporting world.

On match day the teams paraded around the pitch led by London Irish Girls Pipers Band.  A member of that band had big Leitrim connections, Susan McGarty ,daughter of Willie McGarty and niece  of Packie Mc Garty. Susan moved to Leitrim many years ago and  now lives in Mohill. The Leitrim team showed one change from the match programme. Tom Reilly (Glenfarne) picked up an injury and Pat Flynn (Gortletteragh) replaced him at left corner back. Michael Oates in the Observer stated, Sean Creamer and Gerry Logan qualify for the joint title of ‘surprise omissions’. It was an exceptional Leitrim team built on the U-21 success of 1977 and included five players who were selected on the Leitrim team of the Millennium, Noel Crossan, Mickey Quinn, Ollie Honeyman, Mickey Martin and Frank Holohan. The team were good enough to win a Connacht Championship, it was a great shame that they didn’t.

The attendance was 3,000 and the match report stated ‘Leitrim overcame the feeble challenge of an outclassed London side. The final score was Leitrim 1-13 London 0-5 .Frank Smith was the pick of the Leitrim attack with five points all from play. Mickey Martin showed his class with a polished performance at centre half forward. He was the games outstanding player and hardly put a foot wrong the whole afternoon. Leitrim’s goal was scored by Seamus Mulhern’.

The Leitrim team celebrated well into Sunday night and a few lads just about made the plane home on Monday.

Leitrim played Mayo next on 13th June in Carrick on Shannon without their top scorer Frank Smith(injured)  and lost on a score-line of  2-7 to 1-7.  Losing by three points after shooting 20 wides (Mayo had eight) the Irish Press headline was’ Leitrim footballers literally kicked Mayo into the Connacht final by their own inability to put the ball between the posts’.

The Leitrim team of the 80’s  was the springboard for setting up the Leitrim Supporters Club to help finance the preparations of county teams and the Supporters Club is still going strong.

Forty years later Leitrim go to play London next Sunday.  London beat Leitrim in this years National Football League. London are a lot better organised than all those years ago but Leitrim should be good enough to win and qualify to play either Mayo or Galway in the next round.  Should Leitrim win and Mayo beat Galway then history will be repeated and Leitrim will take on Mayo again as they did almost 40 years ago.

Eamonn Duignan

 

Emlyn Mulligan – 100 Appearances In Green And Gold Of Leitrim

On Sunday 27th March 2022 Emlyn Mulligan made his 100th Appearance for Leitrim in Markievicz Park versus Sligo. He made his senior debut for Leitrim versus neighbours Donegal in 2006 and between league and championship in those 16 years he has clocked up 100 appearances. Pictured below is Leitrim’s Captain David Bruen and Vice Captain Donal Wrynn together with the current squad and management presenting Emlyn with a framed signed Leitrim Jersey as a momentum of this wonderful achievement.

Under 15 Humphrey Kelliher Cup – Leitrim v Fermanagh

Under 15 Humphrey Kelliher Cup – Saturday 9th April
LEITRIM 1-8   FERMANAGH 2-8
Leitrim opened their 2022 Under 15 campaign with a narrow loss to Fermanagh at the Leitrim Centre of Excellence on Saturday.   In a game that they dominated for long periods, Leitrim will feel that this is one that got away.   In the first period, Leitrim were completely dominant, playing some great football in the process. However, it was during this period that Leitrim failed to capitalise on their dominance with a number of poorly chosen shots at goal.   They did lead at the break on a scoreline of 1-3 to 0-1 with the Leitrim scores coming from Luke Fitzsimons (goal) and points from Joey McBrien (2) and Sean Carolan Morris.
Fermanagh came thundering into the 2nd half when they added 2-4 without reply from the home side which ultimately proved to be the difference between the 2 teams.   Leitrim regained their composure and dominated the remainder of the game.   They outscored their opponents by 5 points to 1 point but time ran out as Leitrim laid siege to the Fermanagh goal.   Try as they might, Leitrim couldn’t find a much needed goal to even the scoreline but they will take away a lot of positives from this display.   The second half points for Leitrim came from the boots of Joey McBrien (2), Tadhg Regan (2) and Bailey McBride.   Leitrim play Louth on the 7th of May in the 2nd round of this competition.
LEITRIM Team and Scorers:
Daire Shannon; Killian Mulvey; Oran Foley; Niall Stenson; Niall Torsney; Cormac Moran; Bobby Hanrahan; Bailey McBride (0-1); Gavin Gallagher; Peter Moran; Sean Carolan Morris (0-1); Andrew Lee; Mark Ahearne; Joey McBrien (0-4); Luke Fitzsimons (1-0). SUBS: Kevin Faughnan, Oisin Conlon, Tadhg Regan (0-2); David Chen.

Fr. Manning Cup – Leitrim v Clare

Under 16 Fr. Manning Cup Saturday 9th April

LEITRIM  4-12   CLARE  2-8

Leitrim Under 16’s kicked off their 2022 Fr. Manning Cup campaign in fine style with a convincing 10 point over the Banner County at the Leitrim Centre of Excellence on Saturday.   Key to this victory was a fast start by the home team who raced into an early lead that was never surrendered over the 60 minutes.   In a hardworking team display, Leitrim had early points through Adam Reynolds and Adam Gethins before Senan Mooney scored the first of his 3 goals to give Leitrim an early 5 point lead. Clare added 2 points to reduce the gap before Leitrim hit a purple patch adding 1-6 in 10 minutes to establish a significant lead.   Points from Noah McNulty, Adam Reynolds (2), Adam Gethins, Cian Reynolds and a goal and a point by Senan Mooney left Leitrim well clear approaching half time.   Clare staged a mini revival tagging on 4 points to their total but it was left to Adam Gethins to complete the first half scoring with a fine point leaving the half time score Leitrim 2-9 Clare 0-6.
Any hopes of a Clare comeback were quickly put to bed when Leitrim added a well taken point by Brian Keaney.   Senan Mooney then completed his hat trick with another well taken goal before Adam Gethins finished off a great team move with a composed finish to the net.   Both teams exchanged the next 4 points with Cian Reynolds (fisted effort) and Adam Gethins (well struck 45) completing Leitrim’s total for the day.   Leitrim won’t be happy how they closed out the game, missing a number of opportunities before coughing up 2 goals to Clare in the final 3 minutes.   All in all, Leitrim will be happy with their display where all players made good contributions to the team performance.   Next up for Leitrim is an away game to Sligo on Saturday the 7th of May.
LEITRIM Team and Scorers:
Darragh Lee; Tomas Mayock; Frank Cullen; Tommy Reen; David Liu Doyle; Colm McLoughlin; Cian Reynolds (0-2); Adam Gethins (1-4); Josh McNamee; Evan Kilrane; Noah McNulty (0-1); Adam Reynolds (0-3); Senan Mooney (3-1); Cathal McCarthy; Cian Casey. SUBS: Brian Keaney (0-1); Liam Crowe; James Shanley.

Connacht SFC Leitrim v London – Match Ticket Details

The 2022 Connacht SFC commences on Sunday, April 17, in Ruislip as Leitrim and London battle go head to head for a place in the Connacht SFC semi-final. The match ticket details have been published and are as follows:

Stand Tickets €30

Terrace Tickets €25

Student/OAP rates are the same as for Adults 

Juveniles Under 16 are free of charge on the terrace only. Juveniles in the stand must have a ticket and pay the adult rate. 

Tickets may be purchased here

Leitrim v Sligo – Markievicz Park – Parking Arrangements

“To those attending tomorrow’s Allianz League match vs. Leitrim please note that there will be parking restrictions on all of the roads in the immediate vicinity of the ground as Markievicz Park is in a residential area and along a road with cycle paths.

Please have respect for our neighbours and other road users when parking.
Do not park up on footpaths, across driveways or obstructing cycle lanes. Please cooperate with stewards and Gardai at all times.
Parking is available in the Sligo Development Centre car park behind Londis on Cleveragh Rd, off Pearse Rd (F91 W2KH) – about 5 mins walk to the ground or near the roundabout off the N4 at Summerhill College (F91 D5YF) about 20 mins walk from the ground – see details on the graphic below.”

Memorial Mass for Packie McGarty & Cathal Flynn

Packie McGarty RIP  & Cathal Flynn RIP

Last year during Covid, Leitrim lost two of its greatest footballers; Packie McGarty, RIP and Cathal Flynn, RIP.  It was so sad that two people who were so admired in Leitrim and indeed loved by all who knew them were not permitted a proper funeral due to lockdown restrictions.

We have decided  to have a Memorial Mass for Packie  and Cathal, RIP on Saturday, 9th April at 11.00am in St Patrick’s Parish Church, Mohill, Co. Leitrim.

It will be a GAA gathering in every sense and  everyone is welcome to attend

Eamonn Duignan