By Daire Walsh

Despite already having the forthcoming inter-county season near the forefront of their minds, last Sunday week saw Michelle Guckian and her Leitrim team-mates being transported back to last August 4 and their date with destiny in Croke Park.

The O’Rourke County women, 17 years on from winning the competition in the same venue, held off a gallant fightback from Tyrone to win the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship final on a score of 3-11 to 3-10. Such was the quality of the spectacle on show that TG4 opted to include this epic affair in their Cluichí na Bliana series on December 22, 2024.

After completing a training session as part of their preparations for the 2025 edition of the Lidl National Football League, the Leitrim panel sat down to relive a day that will be etched in their memories for years to come.

“We were actually together there after training and we saw the game coming on. Everyone still remembers it and just to see things of it that you don’t see yourself on the day. You can see the crowds and the excitement that was there for everyone, it was a brilliant game to watch back,” Guckian said.

“Just to see everything happening after you knew the result, but it was just unbelievable. We let it come down to the wire at the end, but it made that final buzzer just an unbelievable memory for us.

“It was such a great experience. Never had I ever thought that I’d be playing in Croke Park. I’m 31 now and I thought my chances of playing in Croke Park had probably gone. Winning the Mary Quinn Cup after 17 years and standing up there with all the girls, I think that definitely will be a memory that will live on for the rest of all our lives.”

Although veteran duo Charlene Tyrrell and Clare Owens made their adult inter-county debuts in 2003 and 2006 respectively, Guckian is nevertheless one of the most experienced playing members in the current Leitrim set-up. A part of the O’Rourke panel since 2009, she initially made her breakthrough onto the starting line-up as a goalkeeper before subsequently being used as an outfield player.

It is from midfield that Guckian captained the team for last year’s successful championship campaign and suffice to say, climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand in GAA HQ to lift the All-Ireland intermediate title was a dream come true for the Moyne Community School teacher. To top things off, the Kiltubrid ace was also a popular choice for the TG4 Intermediate Players’ Player of the Year award for 2024.

“It was a very great year now and it was topped off with winning the Intermediate Players’ Player of the Year. I have to say, the fourth of August in Croke Park was definitely the pinnacle of the year.

“It has been a long, long time coming and as I said, I never thought that I’d get the opportunity to play in Croke Park. It would have definitely been a dream of mine to do it, but to be captain up there and to lift the cup on behalf of Leitrim definitely has been unbelievable. It definitely was worth the last, whatever, 15 years. It was definitely worth it.”

When Leitrim last competed in a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship game, Tyrone also provided the opposition in a first round encounter held in Blacklion on August 1, 2010. Guckian appeared as a 34th minute substitute in this fixture, which ended in a 6-22 to 2-9 defeat for her side.

Just under 15 years later, Leitrim will find themselves back in the top-tier of ladies football when the race for the Brendan Martin Cup gets underway on June 7 of this year.

Additionally – 12 months on from winning a provincial intermediate crown with an impressive final win over Roscommon - Jonny Garrity’s charges are also set to square off against Galway and Mayo in the TG4 Connacht Senior Football Championship. While it could prove to be a tough transition, Guckian and her Leitrim colleagues are looking forward to locking horns with the very best teams in the country.

“It’s going to be a very tough challenge, playing senior teams this year, but a challenge we’re relishing. We want to be playing the best teams out there. We want to be competing with them and putting it up to them as much as we can. It will help us develop as players as well and it’s where we’d love to see Leitrim remaining, in senior level.

“Pushing on to get that little bit better and hopefully we push on in the Connacht championship first. Galway and Mayo, they’re going to be two very tough challenges. We want to aim for the Connacht championship first in the summer and then push on into the All-Ireland series after that.”

Before emerging victorious in last year’s Connacht and All-Ireland intermediate championships, Leitrim suffered disappointment in the form of a Lidl NFL Division Four semi-final reversal to Limerick back in March.

Gaining promotion to Division Three of the league has been a long-held ambition for the county and their latest quest to move up the NFL ranks begins with a home showdown against 2024 TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship winners Fermanagh on Sunday, January 19.

When Leitrim lost Division Four league finals in 2021 and 2023, it was the sides that beat them – Louth and Antrim respectively – who secured the one promotion spot that was up for grabs. The structure for the NFL has changed since then, however, and it is now both finalists who progress to the higher division for the following season.

“There is going to be a big push in Division Four this year for us. We’ve lost a few girls off our panel from last year. We’ve some new girls in there this year as well. You can just see the talent that we have in Leitrim, to just keep pushing on and definitely put a big push in Division Four this year,” Guckian added.

“We want to see that we’re able to progress and keep moving up the ranks. If you’re moving up the ranks, you’re playing better teams and that's where we want to be.”

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