Leitrim- GG Team of 2011

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

hurlingguru wrote:Can I put forward a motion to the committee that Carlow be nomatinated for the year of 2012?

Indeed. However on a technicality - nominated incorrectly spelt - I'm afraid the motion is denied. Best of luck for 2012 though.

Darn it where did that t come from. Carlow for Sam 2050

A big task ahead on Sunday at home to Wicklow. The Garden County men struggled to squeeze out a draw agin' Carlow last Sunday and while we weren't wonderful in overcoming the Banner, the manner of the victory offers a small token of hope. A point down with two to go would normally be game over (this has been the trend under Moran) but on Sunday young Conor Beirne rescued the spoils with a brace of late points. This was a direct reversal of last year's meeting in Ennis.

Our defence are solid enough despite the absence of John McKeon (collarbone) and will need to be, to contain Leighton Glynn and Hannon (if fit).
The inclusion of 4 from county champions Glencar/Manor is particularly welcome, as these lads have won 3 in a row and Adrian Croal is a quality marksman.

Are ye still doing the backs and forwards experiment or wha'?

A five point defeat to Wicklow was a self-inflicted disaster. Mossy Beirne dismissed (straight red) after 7 minutes was followed by Barry McWeeney getting the line (2nd. yellow) just after half-time and Wicklow, without being world-beaters kicked on to the inevitable victory. Pro's and con's are:

With 13 men we missed a penalty, entrusting young Conor Beirne with the kick. The team captain James Glancy should have taken this, too much pressure on a young lad making his first full start at this level...a lesson learned hopefully. Emlyn Mulligan made a brief cameo as a sub and knocked over an awkward free. He'll get more game time as the league progresses. Croal, as previously indicated, was on fire at f/f, kicked 3 from play and a free he won himself. The 13 on the field gave it their all to the very end and were recipients of generous applause at the final whistle.

On the negative front: Gary Reynolds is not a corner back. Barry Prior (Yes Barry Prior again) is out of his depth, much like he has been for 6/7 years. The existing h/b line are currently too small, overly prone to taking the ball into contact and thus turn over possession. The time has come for the default/nuclear option to be called for on Ray Cox... Indiscipline will have to be ruthlessly eradicated, Beck was hauled ashore on a yellow and black.....

Two away games up next V the Cats and London will give time to regroup before making a push forward.

I really am worried for the future of leitrim football once Mickey Moran leaves the job, he is working miracles there at the minute to get leitrim some bit competative in division 4 and getting very little credit for it

The Puke wrote:I really am worried for the future of leitrim football once Mickey Moran leaves the job, he is working miracles there at the minute to get leitrim some bit competative in division 4 and getting very little credit for it

Add to the Negatives column...

The talismatic Emlyn Mulligan returns to the starting 15 for the first time in 12 months on Sunday. Dozy Moran goes with an all Manor f/f line of Glancy,Croal and McDonald while Darren Sweeney moves to m/f to replace the suspended Mossy Beirne.
In line with Moran's thick attitude, Gary Reynolds remains at c/b while the out of form/depth Barry Prior retains the 7 jersey....Daniel Lowe gets a run at m/f...

We'd be up agin' it were we to be meeting Tyrone or Kerry at the moment...

I am quitely confident that Leitrim will get a result this weekend.....Here's hoping.....Mickey Moran is the man

The Puke wrote:I am quitely confident that Leitrim will get a result this weekend.....Here's hoping.....Mickey Moran is the man

Moran wouldn't train a pig to be dirty.

Boxtyeater wrote:

The Puke wrote:I am quitely confident that Leitrim will get a result this weekend.....Here's hoping.....Mickey Moran is the man

Moran wouldn't train a pig to be dirty.

He would have no business training pigs, you are dead right boxty....But he is a fine football coach and I am quite bullish about Leitrim's chances this weekend and reckon they will win comfartably

The Puke wrote:

Boxtyeater wrote:

The Puke wrote:I am quitely confident that Leitrim will get a result this weekend.....Here's hoping.....Mickey Moran is the man

Moran wouldn't train a pig to be dirty.

He would have no business training pigs, you are dead right boxty....But he is a fine football coach and I am quite bullish about Leitrim's chances this weekend and reckon they will win comfartably

He's not a coach, he's a fooking hearse....

in fairness boxty he is doing the best he can with little resources....At least ye aren't poaching players for the sake of it like other counties....True gaels one and all up in Leitrim

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Highlights here of the Wicklow game. Coal looks impressive.

Jonsmith wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Highlights here of the Wicklow game. Coal looks impressive.

Hey/ho Smithy.....Croal is a good forward, bit on the small side but plucky, cute and accurate..Mulligan is back at the weekend V KK so we'll see how he goes.
An all Manor ff line that I'd be happy with, Mulligan at 10 leaving 2 places open in th forward line...
The back line is much the same, Barry Prior isn't a back (is he a forward)...lot's of puzzles...
I might tip down to Carlow to see the mini-girls and the long lad and take in Ballyragget......or a weekend of canvassing and porter...

The Puke wrote:

Boxtyeater wrote:

The Puke wrote:I am quitely confident that Leitrim will get a result this weekend.....Here's hoping.....Mickey Moran is the man

Moran wouldn't train a pig to be dirty.

He would have no business training pigs, you are dead right boxty....But he is a fine football coach and I am quite bullish about Leitrim's chances this weekend and reckon they will win comfartably

Yet another correct call from me this weekend.....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Are ye still doing the backs and forwards experiment or wha'?

We seem to have finally cracked it. Scoring forwards and resolute defending.....
It does nothing for the game in Kilkenny though.

Boxtyeater wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Are ye still doing the backs and forwards experiment or wha'?

We seem to have finally cracked it. Scoring forwards and resolute defending.....
It does nothing for the game in Kilkenny though.

Surely you can't fault Barry Prior's performance today after a clean sheet....?

Jonsmith wrote:

Boxtyeater wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Are ye still doing the backs and forwards experiment or wha'?

We seem to have finally cracked it. Scoring forwards and resolute defending.....
It does nothing for the game in Kilkenny though.

Surely you can't fault Barry Prior's performance today after a clean sheet....?

I heard that his man got 3 kicks at it in the 1st. half.....doesn't look good for Barry if this is true.

Barry scored 1-1 according to the paper.. Poor return against Kilkenny..

In all fairness though who are these Kilkenny, I'd fancy Corlough to at least get a few scores against Division 4 opposition.. Similiar to the Cavan hurlers they should pull our for a period of 2-3 years. A series of annihilations doesn't do anybody any good..

Jonsmith wrote:Barry scored 1-1 according to the paper.. Poor return against Kilkenny..

Hauled ashore after his man got the third kick at it I hear......Ominous for Barry.....

It is with a deep sadness I bring to this noble thread the passing of Tony Hayden, a gentleman from birth to death.
A Bornacoola clubman, Tony was an ever present in the No.7 jersey, in what was probably our greatest era '57-'63, when we contested 6 Connacht finals..

A veritable automatic choice on the "team of the millennium", my endearing memory of him will always be of the burly figure bursting through a throng of forwards, the customary "1 bounce" when clear and the cunningly delivered clearance...

Being from Bornacoola, he was one of those "country backs" who would jump into a cement mixer after a ball, but that is to overlook what a great competitor, team player and distributor of the ball he was...Tough and hardly he may have been, but never in his lifetime as a player would he countenance unsporting conduct.

RIP a chara, one of the very best..

Leitrim on the up with GT support making no mistake against Fermanagh.. Win their game in hand and they could possibly challenge for promotion. H'on Leitrim! Did you venture Boxty?

Great piece here by Colin Regan well worth a listen: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Jonsmith wrote:Leitrim on the up with GT support making no mistake against Fermanagh.. Win their game in hand and they could possibly challenge for promotion. H'on Leitrim! Did you venture Boxty?

Great piece here by Colin Regan well worth a listen: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

A poor poor game as the scoreline indicates. Fermanagh are not the team they were, but a win is a win...Onwards and upwards......

On the Rego piece....I'd have great time for Colin, small of stature, he never gave less than 100%, often to his own detriment and despite advancing years is still a big loss, noticeably since the passing of Philly McGuinness. Both contributed massive yards per game, ferrying ball across the middle 3rd, popping up all over the shop.

Regan has a bright future in the journo trade, his observations are sought after for a while now.....We had a great oul' night "out on the reel" with himself and Colm O'Rourke in New York in 2003, both fine spinners of tales of derring do as the flew down...

Colin Regan is a top man...

Here's one of Rego's efforts...



An Appreciation: Phillip McGuinness
'He'd lead by example whether it was inspiration or amusement'
Colin Regan

Pressure free: Philly would reply with his trademark catchphrase: "That's just the way I roll, Rego," and he'd laugh that distinctive laugh Philly McGuinness came into this world in most auspicious circumstances. On 29 February, 1984 he arrived, the third son of Michael and Phil McGuinness. It was four years to the day that his brother John was also born a leap-year baby. The odds of two brothers being born on February 29 are 2,134,521 to one according to mathematicians.




Tragically Philly's life would end in similarly improbable circumstances. An accidental collision during a game on Saturday, 17 April – the likes of which is witnessed every weekend at sporting matches across an array of codes – stole him from his family, friends and teammates. He died two days later, never having regained consciousness.




He was playing for his beloved Mohill club in a senior league match against Melvin Gaels in Annaduff. It should have been a home game for Mohill but their ground, which is to be renamed the Philly McGuinness Memorial Park, is closed for renovation. With two minutes of the first half to play Philly had already covered virtually every blade of grass on the pitch. We, the Melvin Gaels with whom I have played with all my life but am reduced to a selector's role this year due to a knee injury, had placed our fittest defender on Philly in an attempt to curtail his inevitable influence from his wing-forward berth. Our man was already out on his feet tailing the Mohill and Leitrim star.




It was a feeling familiar to most players in Leitrim at some stage or other, gasping for oxygen and respite as they followed Philly's dancing shadow around a pitch; that 'Willo the Wisp' in Mohill's green and white.




In many ways Philly McGuinness embodied the requirements essential for a great Leitrim footballer – honesty of endeavour, selfless team attitude and an indefatigable energy and hunger for victory. But Philly brought flair and a beautiful grace to the game too, marking himself out from a young age with his lion's heart and his mazy runs, with the big ball or small.




As anyone who played with or against Philly knows he always played with his heart on his sleeve, a trait obviously instilled in every McGuinness at a young age. You could identify him as a McGuinness by the way he played. He shared Michael's graceful physique and tireless lungs and legs and John's work-rate and team ethic, but he also brought his own distinctly Philly signature to elements of his play.




For me it was all about his timing. He just had that knack of knowing where to be and when, on arriving before the ball, intuitively, of leaping at the perfect moment to field a kick-out at its apex, of appearing on a teammate's shoulder when he needed assistance the most.




We both played wing-forward for Leitrim and while I often studied his breaking-ball winning abilities with admiration, I knew it was pointless to try and figure out how he managed to excel at this most difficult of skills. It was pure instinct and a skill Philly made his own and I always admired him for it.




It was a topic we discussed once or twice, and wanting to deflect any praise I might offer him for fear it might add weight to his boots, Philly would reply with his trademark catchphrase: "That's just the way I roll, Rego," and he'd laugh that distinctive laugh of his.




It's how I'll always see him in my mind's eye – with his boyish swagger racing into the middle of a cauldron of six-foot-plus midfielders and emerging fleet-footed to tear off up the wing with ball in hand in front of him and his red locks flowing behind.




That just seemed to suit his personality. Philly always played with a spring in his step and a glint in his eyes, ready, willing and able to take on the big boys.




Off the pitch there are so many that knew him better than I and so I feel unqualified to do justice to the man that was Philly McGuinness. All I can say is that to his Leitrim teammates he was our source of fun, a one-line comedy king who could lead by example whether we needed inspiration or amusement.




"A bit of villainy and rascalment," explained Matt Gaffney, who provided the elegant and poignant graveside eulogy, was a turn of phrase that regularly passed the lips of Philly's late father Michael, and from hearing 101 other fond stories about that famous man over the past week it's clear Philly didn't get his love for a bit of devilment off the wind.




I took the opportunity last night to read through the book of condolences on the Leitrim GAA website and the Facebook page which has been opened in Philly's memory and as I read the myriad messages from every corner of the globe, I felt a wonderful sense of pride in knowing the man who stirred such sentiments. Reading them would break your heart and mend it all at once.




Philly's death reverberated around the GAA world because every player and team, every mother and father, knew it could just as easily have been their number 10 who didn't get to play to the final whistle on that fateful Saturday evening.




To the Mohill club and wider community I say thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of the Melvin Gaels. The generosity of thought and spirit of solidarity shown to our team and officials spread the weight of a great burden across all our shared shoulders. To Philly's mother Phil, and brothers John and Michael, you remain in our every thought and prayer. While Philly can never be replaced his spirit continues to shine like the sun did over Mohill even through its darkest hour when you laid him to his eternal rest. I hope when the immediate shock recedes and the fullness of the loss of a son and brother as beautiful as Philly comes home, you will find some comfort in the unprecedented out-pouring of love and respect his passing provoked and the wonderful memories he left behind.




And finally to Philly. Even in death you continue to inspire and while we mourn your loss we also celebrate a life lived to the full. I look forward to one day proudly stepping onto the grass of Philly McGuinness Memorial Park, the new theatre of dreams for Mohill's rising young stars, where they can try and emulate one of its favourite sons.




To sign the book of condolences opened in honour of Philly McGuinness go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]




Colin Regan is a former Leitrim teammate of Philly McGuinness

Promotion has slipped out of the grasp of Leitrim now who are to make an assault on Connacht..

In other news Boxty the winking Willie won his local derby game today v Corlough in one of the worst games ever witnessed.. There will be no Cloone-esque trophies earned with this bunch I'm sad to say..