What are the odds?
Yesterday morning Mike Feeney, the Chairman of the Leitrim GAA Supporters Club in Dublin and I attended the funeral in Leixlip of one of Leitrim Oldest supporters, eighty seven year old Paddy Flynn. Leixlip is the ‘KOP END’ for Leitrim supporters. Paddy who hailed from Aughnasheelin loved the GAA all his life and adored his home club, his adopted club St Marys in Leixlip where he was Vice President and of course Leitrim. Thirty years after winning the Connacht Championship in 1994 Paddy loved to talk about that famous day. The funeral mass summed him up perfectly. Paddy was a gentle and quiet man, married sixty two years to Rosaleen, and totally devoted to his wife, and his three daughters Louise, Denise and Stephanie. He was one of the really good guys. On behalf of all Leitrim Supporters I would like to express our sympathies to all the Flynn family on their great loss. May Paddy rest in peace.
The venue for today’s game is Philly McGuinness Park in Mohill. The winners will lift the Philly McGuiness Cup in honour of the very same person. A unique honour for the young engineer who played for Mohill and the county. What are the odds of that happening?.
On the 17th April 2010 Philly was involved in an accidental clash with a player from Melvin Gaels and Philly passed away two days later never having regained consciousness. What are the odds of that happening?. Philly was born on the February 29th 1984 . So this year he would be celebrating his tenth birthday, to the rest of us he would be celebrating his fortieth birthday. Philly was a leap year baby just like his brother John, born four years earlier. The odds of two brothers being born on February 29th are 2,134,521 according to mathematicians. Talk about odds.
Matt Gaffey one of Philly’s coaches in Mohill GAA Club wrote a poem in his honour, one of the verses is,
To his team Philly was a priceless treasure
His value to the team was impossible to measure
A golden role model with boundless energy and skill,
All the youngsters loved him and indeed always will.
Philly came from a football family, his father Michael was selected on the Leitrim Team of the Millenium, his older brothers John and Michael like Philly represented both their club and county with distinction. What are the odds of a father and three sons playing for the county?. The McGuinness’s were much more than footballers. Philly was full of devilment and rascalment, a source of great fun and a one line comedy king, a family trait. The McGuinness family were always good company and full of wit and stories. Philly’s dad Michael was a teacher and taught in Claremorris in Mayo and in Drumshanbo. I remember as a skinny young lad playing minor with Leitrim against Mayo. I could not believe how big and strong the Mayo minors were. The next day I met Michael on the streets of Mohill and told him how big the Mayo minors were. ‘Young Duignan’ he said (I have two brothers one older, one younger so there was no mistake been called ‘young), ‘I will tell you a secret‘ he continued, ‘in Mayo all young males are baptised three years after they are born’. Keep that to yourself. And I did until now.
On the 11th January 2015 Mohill GAA Park was re-dedicated to the memory of Philly McGuinness, almost 76 years after its first dedication to St Manachan, patron saint of the town. The Park as everyone called it, has staged many important matches and events over the years. The Park was where Leitrim’s greatest ever footballer Packie McGarty made his Leitrim senior debut in 1949 at the age of 16 against Offaly. Packie went to the match as a spectator only to be told when he got there, that he was selected to play on the Leitrim team. He cycled from the Park to his home in Treanmore to get his gear. Packie played his last game in 1971 thus bringing an end to his career spanning four decades. Over his career he played for Leitrim, Connacht and the Rest Of Ireland and cemented his status as one of the all time GAA greats.
Leitrim have already beaten Mayo 3-12 to 0-16 in Ballinamore, and they will seek to win a place in the All-Ireland B series. What are the odds of Leitrim beating Mayo twice in the one year in the same competition?. Where is that mathematician when you need him?.
The Match
The match started at pace and Mayo opened the scoring with a point followed by a Leitrim equaliser. On three minutes we had the first Mayo goal followed by another Mayo point. Mayo were causing all sorts of problems for the Leitrim back line and missed two goal chances, one pouncing on a breaking ball that was kicked wide, the second goal chance was blocked down by the Leitrim backs. What was obvious was how wasteful Mayo were in front of goal, kicking wide after wide. Every time Mayo ran at the Leitrim defence we were in trouble and a second goal on twenty five minutes gave some justice to their dominance. The buzz word in todays game is Strength & Conditioning (S&C) but if a guy is six foot two running past a guy five foot seven S&C is irrelevant. Physically Mayo were overpowering Leitrim all over the field. This physicality leads to turnovers and Mayo won a huge amount of turnovers today. Secondly Mayo were able to exploit space. When Leitrim danger man Paul Honeyman got the ball he was immediately surrounded by the Mayo backs making his job very difficult. Paul Honeyman (3) and Barry McNulty were keeping Leitrim in the game. The first half finished 2-6 to 0-6 and at half time based on the first half there was only going to be one winner.
You need a bit of luck and when Leitrim need it, we never seem to get it. In the first half there was a cross wind, in the second half the wind changed and now was down the field favouring Mayo. That is not an excuse. In the second half Mayo scored 1-5, Leitrim scored 0-3 and the game was over with ten minutes to go. There is some big talent in the Leitrim team and we are familiar with Honeyman, Guckian, Cox, McNulty, Foley. One player who really showed his class today was Jake Tobin.
Having watched the Leitrim minors, U-20’s and seniors this year, the physicality of most other teams is obvious. Devising a strategy and a way of playing to overcome this, is the big task facing all our management teams.
Forty years ago no one could have predicted that this game would take place against all the odds. Unfortunately today the betting was on Mayo and Mayo were deserving winners.
Eamonn Duignan
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