BALLINAMORE SEÁN O’HESLINS stalwart Wayne McKeon says the club has produced “moments to cherish” after ending a 31-year wait to win the Leitrim senior championship.
A Niall McGovern goal in the 57th minute ultimately proved decisive as the Ballinamore outfit dethroned defending champions Mohill in a gripping final on Sunday.
Prior to the final, O’Heslins were the most successful club on the Leitrim senior championship roll of honour, with 20 titles already banked. But since their last success in 1990, O’Heslins have gone through a long baron period in which they reached the county final just twice in 1998 and 2019.
They finally ended the famine on Sunday, squeezing over the line by a two-point margin. Man-of-the-match McKeon says his side are just slowly starting to appreciate what they have achieved for the community.
“There’s videos of last night and I’m looking at them this morning on social media,” he tells The42. “You’re seeing people at 50, 55, 60 with tears in their eyes. It means the world. We haven’t really won a lot to be fair but it kicked home when we saw what it means to people, it brings you back down to earth.
“It was brilliant, loved it all and they’re moments to cherish.”
McKeon savoured the chance to celebrate with fans after a strange couple of GAA seasons due to Covid-19
“The last couple of years have been very weird. No dressing rooms, no showers and no fans on the field. It’s great for the fans when you see them coming onto the field. I saw more tears than I have for a lifetime. Pure happiness after 31 years of hurt where we didn’t get there, couldn’t get there and weren’t good enough.
“We eventually got over the line but look, an unbelievable group of boys. Two years ago, we didn’t get over the line and I suppose we pushed the year after and it didn’t happen. And then we went back to square one this year and we got beaten in the first two rounds of the championship.
“It kind of brought us back down to earth with a bang and it was probably what we needed, that everything’s not easy in life. We had to work hard for it and we went back down to the bare essentials and started working from the basics.”
McKeon makes it just three players –including himself — on the current squad who were born when O’Heslins were last crowned county champions. And even those who are old enough to say they were alive for their that triumph don’t have any vivid memories of the occasion.
But under the management of former Fermanagh and Sligo boss Dominic Corrigan, the O’Heslins players didn’t feel burdened by the weight of history.
“In fairness to Dom, he’s very calm and collected in what he does. He kind of took that pressure on his own shoulders and didn’t really put it on ours. We were there two years ago and that pressure was there.
“Now it was kind of pushed back and we weren’t looking at that side of things, we were just looking to our own game and what Mohill was about, and what we worked on at training to counteract them and stop their game.
“There was no real mention of 31 years or any of that stuff. We knew it was that long and we just worked very hard over the last two weeks. We did what we had to do, just about.
“Mohill are unreal champions and we knew with a couple of minutes left, that Mohill were going to be there or thereabouts. I think in the last couple of games we played, there was only two or three points between us. It was going to go down to the wire, but thankfully we got across the line.”
While the toasting continues in Ballinamore, Corrigan’s charges will be returning to training on Wednesday to begin preparations for the provincial championships in November.
Conquering the county is certainly an achievement to savour, but McKeon says O’Heslins are eager to keep charging forward and “take a scalp the next day.”
Newly appointed Leitrim manager Andy Moran was a special guest at the county final yesterday where a number of players surely impressed the Mayo legend, according to McKeon.
There’s plenty to feel positive about in the county.
“Andy should be impressed,” says McKeon.
“It was a great showing of what Leitrim football is about. People say that we’re so far behind teams but I think if you looked at that game yesterday, Leitrim is as good as any player that’s about. We train every bit as hard as everyone else.
“Maybe we don’t get the credit we deserve at times, but to be fair, if you look at yesterday, it showed that we’re as good as what’s there.”
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