By Daire Walsh

While she was on her own in more recent times, 2026 has seen Niamh Tighe once again joining forces with a close family member in the Leitrim senior football set-up.

Back on May 19, 2012, Tighe featured alongside her sisters Sinead and Áine as the O’Rourke County lost out by four points to Westmeath in a Lidl National Football League Division 3 final replay at Emmet Park in Longford’s Killoe. Although Áine subsequently embarked on an AFLW career with Fremantle in Western Australia, Sinead was still on the Leitrim panel when Niamh returned to the fold in the winter of 2021 following a five-year stint as a teacher in Abu Dhabi.

Niamh then became the sole Tighe sibling within their ranks after Sinead stepped away from inter-county football in advance of the 2023 season and was a key figure when the Connacht side claimed top honours in the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship a year later. Yet as Niamh explains, the past few months has seen Sinead coming back in a radically different role for Leitrim.

“We played a year or two together when I came back in. She [Sinead] has had two kids since, but she is back involved this year as a performance coach. It’s lovely having her back involved in the dressing room. I got to play with my two sisters for a long time before they went abroad and different things,” Niamh explained.

“Sinead would have played with a lot of the girls that are there. She understands that she has been in your shoes before, so I think that is really good. She really understands how you’re feeling. We get on great. It’s lovely having her back involved.

“Áine is living her dream over in Australia, but we’re all very close. We’d all keep in close contact with each other. Definitely before big games and after them, we’d always be chatting. We’re so proud of what she’s done over there and she hasn’t had an easy road either with injuries and different things.”

Since that reversal against Westmeath 14 years ago, Sinead and Niamh have individually started for Leitrim in Lidl NFL Division 4 final defeats to Louth and Antrim in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

Back then, it was only the teams that won the second, third and fourth-tier deciders that progressed into a higher division of the league for the following season. While a ‘two up, two down’ system was introduced in advance of the 2024 NFL, semi-final defeats had seen Leitrim falling short of securing promotion in the past two seasons.

However, persistence finally paid off for Jonny Garrity’s charges last Sunday week (March 29) when they edged out provincial rivals Sligo on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-11 after extra-time at Orchard Park in Elphin. This ensures the O’Rourke women will head into their Division 4 final showdown with Carlow at Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park in Birr tomorrow afternoon knowing that themselves and the Barrowsiders have safely sealed promotion for the 2027 season.

“It was huge relief on the whistle [against Sligo]. I suppose the type of game it was, it was so close for so long and we needed extra-time. Just a huge amount of relief and that was our main aim this year,” Tighe said.

“Just to get out of Division 4, because it has evaded us the last couple of years. Where we’ve been close and just fell at the final hurdle. We’re really happy to get that box ticked and now look ahead to the next one.”

Despite acknowledging having promotion wrapped up takes the pressure off ahead of this weekend’s duel with Carlow, Tighe stresses she and her Leitrim colleagues will be going all out to add the first piece of silverware that is on offer to their side in 2026.

Having faced them as recently as March 8 at Heartland Credit Union Páirc Seán MacDiarmada in the group stages of Division 4, Tighe knows exactly what kind of challenge Carlow will pose in Offaly tomorrow. Six points ahead at half-time in a top of the table clash, Leitrim were pegged back on the resumption and eventually suffered a 2-7 to 0-11 loss.

“When you’re in a final, you want to win it. It’s nice to have the pressure of promotion off, because we’ve been trying to get out of Division Four for a long time now.

“They [Carlow] are a really good team. They’ve a few really good forwards there that are going to need good looking after. I suppose the last time we played them it was a strange game. The first half there was a big wind.

“We were six points up going in at half-time, but the second half they came out and just did really well. Got a bit of momentum and we struggled with that, so we definitely are looking forward to getting another crack at them and hopefully we can come out the right side of it this time.”

Even though they were on the wrong end of the result in those NFL Division 4 finals of 2021 and 2023, Leitrim have since shown they know what it takes to get over the line in major deciders.

Having lined out in the same position when the O’Rourke County secured the TG4 Connacht intermediate football championship with a showpiece victory over Roscommon a little under three months earlier, Tighe played a starring role at midfield when Leitrim got the better of Tyrone in an All-Ireland IFC final at Croke Park on August 4, 2024.

The nucleus of the squad from that memorable year are still in place and with some fresh blood also added to the mix, Tighe feels Leitrim have the right blend heading into tomorrow’s showpiece.

“There’s a lot of that panel from 2024 still there and then mixed in we have loads of new, young girls that came into the panel last year and this year. They’ve just brought a great, great energy with them,” Tighe added.

“We’ve gelled really well, there’s a really good bond there in the group so far. Which is really good and Jonny is brilliant at just bringing the best out of his players.”

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